Rogers, Gordon Byron.

Rogers, Gordon Byron, born 22-08-1901 in Manchester, Tennessee, graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1924 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Cavalry. After graduation Rogers was assigned to the 1^st Cavalry Regiment.  In 1929 Gordon completed the Cavalry Officer Course and in 1930 he graduated from the Advanced Equitation Course, both at Fort Riley, Kansas For several years Rogers played on the Army Polo Team. In 1930 he was a member of the U.S. Olympic Equestrian Team. During the 1930s Rogers served with the 10^th and 2^nd Cavalry Regiments. In 1939 he graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College. He was then assigned to the 6^th Cavalry at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where he commanded a cavalry troop and then a cavalry squadron. In February 1942 he joined the 3^rd Cavalry Regiment, nickname “Brave Rifles”  at Fort Benning, Georgia, and soon advanced to regimental  commander. He was the final commander of the regiment as a horse cavalry formation, and in the summer of 1942 it fielded tanks and was reorganized as the famous 3^rd Armored Regiment. In July, 1942, Rogers was named deputy chief of staff for intelligence, G-2 at I Corps during training and mobilization in South Carolina, remaining with the Corps during its moved to Australia and subsequent combat in the Pacific Ocean Theater. General Rogers was next assigned as G-2 for Army Ground Forces, serving in this post until September, 1945. After the war Rogers was assigned to the War Department General Staff as chief of the Training Branch in the Office of the Director of Intelligence. Beginning in September, 1946 Rogers took part in the post-war occupation of Japan as commander of the 12^th Cavalry Regiment,

part of 1^st Brigade,  1^st Cavalry Division,  and the 5^th Cavalry Regiment.  In July, 1949 Rogers was appointed director of intelligence for the Command and General Staff College. Rogers graduated from the Army War College in 1951, afterwards remaining at the college as a member of the faculty and acting deputy commandant. Following that assignment he was appointed commanding general of the 3^rd Armored Division based at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The Third Armored Division was organized as a “heavy” armored division, as was its counterpart, the Second Armored Division aka “Hell on Wheels”. Later, higher-numbered U.S. armored divisions of World War II. Commander then was Maurice Rose, who was killed in an ambush, near Heidelberg, by a shot throught the head.

   During his command the division was reorganized from a training unit to a deployable one and plans were made to relocate it to West Germany. Following his division command Rogers served in Munich, West Germany as commander of the Southern Area Command and deputy commander of the Seventh Army. In 1958 he advanced to commander of Seventh Army. In 1934 Rogers married Mary Louise Watson (1910–1963) in Washington, DC. One of their children, Gordon Byrom Rogers, Jr, born 21-10-1934, graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1957. The younger Rogers was a career Army officer who served in the Vietnam War and attained the rank of Brigadier General.

Death and burial ground of Rogers, Gordon Byron.

  In retirement Rogers resided in Severna Park, Maryland. Gordon Rogers died at Walter Reed Hospital on 03-07-1967 and was buried with his wife Mary Louise, who died age 53, in 1963, at Arlington National Cemetery.

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