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Cpl Raymond A. Rusch attended Dubuque High School for four years and was a glazier.

He enlisted at Camp Dodge, Iowa on 6 November 1943.

His tank and another one of his company were knocked out by anti-tank fire.

Sgt James R. Fischer was the driver of Sgt Raymond T Loyd’s tank in which Cpl Rusch was a crew member. Sgt Fischer's son gave the following account from his father’s letters about what happened that day: "Sometime during the day on 29 March 1945 my father got orders to move his tank platoon in position to attack a farmhouse which was heavily armed with German machine guns and light artillery. Sgt Loyd was in the same tank as my father. My father was the driver. According to my father's account, when the tanks began their attack the Germans responded with a volley of hellish fire. At a given point my father told Sgt Loyd that he could hardly see out of the periscope. Dad said that Sgt Loyd said he was going to open the hatch, and look out to get a line and guide them in. When Sgt Loyd stuck his head out the hatch he was hit by fire from the Germans and fell back in the tank instantly killed. For years my father said he was haunted by the memory of that headless body in the tank."

Three crew members were killed: Chester H. Thompson and Raymond T. Loyd were the other two. Their remains were never recovered.

He is remembered at the Saint Johns Lutheran Cemetery in Dubuque, Iowa.