Elmer J. Rogers Jr.

His next post was as the United States representative to the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in Turkey, from 1959 until his retirement in 1962.

Following that assignment, Rogers was appointed Inspector General of the Air Force, Washington, D.C., in July 1956.

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, on April 26, 1955.

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.

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 15th 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.

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.

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.

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. He graduated the following June.

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 lieutenant in the Air Service Reserve. On June 30, 1926, he received his regular commission as a second lieutenant of Air Corps.

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

Rogers was born at Taunton, Massachusetts in 1903. His father was Elmer J. Rogers Sr., the president of the Standard Piston Ring Company, and his mother was Matilda Martell Rogers, a housewife. General Rogers was the oldest of three children, followed by a brother, Emeric, 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 as class valedictorian from high school in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1920, he attended the Emerson Institute and later studied at Harvard University. He was fluent in French and German at this time.