An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted on 04/23/2025
as a courtesy to the United States Department Of Defense
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"We still have and will have what the Defense Department describes as institutional racism. [Discrimination] happens. It's there. In many cases, it's inadvertent. In some cases, it's deliberate. We're never going to eliminate racism in the Army. As long as we do everything to reduce it, we're making some legitimate progress."
Another biography that appears to be temporarily unlocatable on official Dept. of Defense websites, is the remarkable life and career of Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers. Born in 1929 West Virginia as the youngest of five children, Charles's father Clyde Rogers was himself a World War I veteran. Rogers excelled academically at Dubois High School in Claremont, WV --not only earning honor roll and being elected class president, but also played starter quarterback his senior year. He took an ROTC Army commission at West Virginia State College (now University) in 1951.
His Army career was marked by a number of firsts --he graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College as a major, and served several tours in Germany, at a time when much of the Army was still largely segregated despite Executive Order #9981 (see Lessons #68 and #132 in this series for more on this directive). At one point Rogers became disillusioned with a systematic pattern of blocks to his Army career path, and went as far as to submit his resignation in 1954, but his commanding officer did not accept it, insisting that Rogers had in him the makings of a good commanding officer. After two successive smaller battery commands, in 1967 Rogers was promoted to Captain and was assigned leadership of the 1st Battalion, 5th Artillery, 1st Infantry Division. This 300-man battalion deployed to Vietnam later that year.
On October 31, 1968, now-Lt. Col. Rogers was in command of his artillery unit in Southern Vietnam close to the Cambodian border and the Ho Chi Minh trail. Notified of enemy activity in the area, he ordered his unit to hold fire. However only a few hours later (technically November 1), the NVA opened fire on Rogers's battalion. Rogers directed the counterattack, and his troops returned fire with howitzers. Rogers was himself wounded twice in this action but he nonetheless led a return ground assault, driving back NVA troops and giving the Americans time to restore a defensive line. Another enemy attack breached another part of the line, and Rogers redirected his troops' artillery fire and rallied to defend another howitzer position. Rogers was then wounded a third time, taking him out of the fight but still in a position to relay orders. Ultimately the enemy retreated with heavy losses. U.S. forces had themselves lost 12 men with 68 injured, but were able to resecure the base. Rogers was treated and returned to the U.S. in 1969. In 1970 President Nixon presented Lt. Col. Rogers with the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony, the then-highest-ranking Black soldier in the U.S. military to receive this honor.
Rogers would later graduate from the Army War College in 1971, earning a Master's in vocational/educational guidance. He assumed several more command positions while in Germany, among them the 42nd Field Artillery Group, and later headed up the Infantry Basic Combat Training Center at Fort Lewis in Washington state. In 1976 he served as deputy chief of staff for Army ROTC. He finally retired in 1984, after 32 years of Army service. As a civilian he opted to remain in Germany (principally in Heidelberg) to support his troops, but now as an ordained Baptist minister. He died in 1990 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. In 2013 the Army Maj. Gen. Charles C. Rogers Memorial Bridge was dedicated in Cotton Hill, West Virginia.
Dig into the Wayback Machine for this misplaced biography:
https://web.archive.org/web/20241103011942/https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2824721/medal-of-honor-monday-army-maj-gen-charles-calvin-rogers/
Next lesson - Lesson 185: Theresa M. Claiborne