Elmer J. Rogers, Jr.

Elmer Joseph Rogers, Jr. (October 12, 1903 – June 30, 2002) was a United States Air Force lieutenant general.

Biography
Rogers was born at Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1903. His father was Elmer J. Rogers, Sr., the owner of a hardware store; his mother was Matilda Martell Rogers, a housewife. General Rogers was the oldest of three children, followed by a brother, Elmer, who became a firefighter in Quincy, Massachusetts, and a sister, Barbara, who graduated from the Brigham & Women's Hospital nursing program and then became a home care nurse in Connecticut. After graduating from high school in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1920, he attended the Emerson Institute and later studied at Harvard University.

Appointed a flying cadet in March 1924, Rogers entered Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, Texas, graduated from Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field, Texas on March 14, 1925 and was commissioned a second 1ieutenant in the Air Service Reserve. On June 30, 1926 he received his regular commission as a second lieutenant of Air Corps.

Assigned as a squadron adjutant, a year later Rogers became a flying instructor at Brooks and Kelly fields, successively. Entering the Air Corps Technical School at Chanute Field, Ill., in September 1932, the general graduated the following June.

Going to Hawaii, Rogers served with the Fourth Observation Squadron at Luke Field, and in June 1935 was transferred to the 18th Composite Ting at Fort Shafter. The following April he went to Barksdale Field, Louisiana, for duty with the Third Attack Group.

Graduating from the Air Corps Tactical School in 1939, Rogers was assigned as an instructor with the Georgia National Guard. Joining the War Department General Staff in August 1941, he was appointed a courier of the Combined Subject Section of the Strategy and Policy Group, War Plans Division, later becoming chief of the section. In January 1943, he moved to Tampa, Florida, as deputy chief of staff of the Third Air Force.

The following August, Rogers assumed command of the 465th Bomb Group at McCook Field, Neb., taking it to the Mediterranean Theater in February 1944. On March 2, he was wounded in action and hospitalized. Released from the hospital on May 14, 1944, the general was named commanding officer of the 97th Bomb Group in that theater. In August, he became deputy assistant chief of staff for operations of the l5th Air Force, and two months later was appointed assistant chief of staff for operations of the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force. This latter assignment was in addition to a corresponding position he already occupied in the 15th Air Force. In June 1945, Rogers became the chief of Staff of the 15th Air force and assumed command of that organization September 1, 1945.

Returning to the United States, Rogers joined the Air Force headquarters at Washington, D.C., in December 1945 as chief of the Policy Division in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Air Staff for Plans. Entering the National War College at Washington, D.C., in August 1947, he graduated the next June and was assigned to the Alaskan Command at Fort Richardson, Alaska to become director of plans and operations. Hospitalized in November 1948, Rogers returned the following May to the Alaskan Command in the same capacity, remaining there until December 1950.

In December, the general became the Air Force member on the Joint Strategic Survey Committee, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, D.C.

In September 1953, Rogers was appointed operations officer of the Far East Command at Tokyo, Japan and on July 15, 1954 was named deputy chief of staff for plans of the Far East Command. He was designated chief of staff, Far East Command and United Nations Command April 26, 1955.

His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, and European Theater Medal with eight battle stars. His foreign decorations include the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Croix de Guerre with Palm (French), Pilots Citation, Royal Yugoslavian Air Force, the Order of the White Elephant, 2nd Class (Thailand), the Ulchi Distinguished Military Service Medal with Gold Star (Republic of Korea), the Order of the Rising Sun (Japan), and the Military Order of Taeguk (Korea). These later two decorations are still subject to Congressional approval. He was rated a command pilot, combat and aircraft observer.

Personal life
General Rogers was married twice. He had two daughters, Gloria and Judy, with his first wife, Dorothy, and the couple divorced.

His second wife, Wilma Rebecca Hague, was a colonel in the Women's Army Corps. They were stationed together in Japan, where they had three maids, all Japanese women in their twenties. Wilma and the general became attached to one of them, Kazuko Sawaji, and asked her if she would like to come with them as their ward when their time in Japan was up. They also spoke with her family about this. Kazuko and the Sawaji family agreed, and she went to Turkey with the Rogers.

Later, when the couple retired and lived in Falls Church, Virginia, Kazuko lived with them. She was like another daughter to them, and they put her through the interior design program at Marymount University.

After she was married, Kazuko moved to nearby McLean. She was the primary caregiver to General Rogers for the last several years of his life.