United States Army General. He served during his military career as the Chief of Staff, United States Army, and as Supreme Commander, Allied Powers, Europe. Born in Fairview, Kansas, enlisted into the Kansas National Guard as a Private, spending one year at Kansas State University. In 1940, he applied for the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he graduated in June 1943 (the World War II demand for junior officers compressed their college schedule to just three years), ranking thirteenth out of 514 in his class. Commissioned into the infantry as a 2nd Lieutenant, he attended the Basic Officers Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and then was assigned to West Point as an instructor of economics and government, missing out of the combat then going on during war. Promoted to Captain, he served during the occupation of Austria as an aide to the High Commissioner for Austria, General Mark Clarke, before being selected in 1947 as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, England, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1950. In 1952, he was deployed to Korea, where he commanded an infantry battalion in the 9th Infantry Division. During this period, he was awarded the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star Medal. Returning to the United States in 1954, he spent the next year at Command and General Staff College, then commanded the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry. After serving as Executive Office to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1962 to 1966, now-Brigadier General Rogers became Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Infantry Division, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism at Cau Song Be, South Vietnam, on March 10, 1967, when he led a successful counterattack against a Viet Cong Regiment on a small South Vietnamese Special Forces Camp. During this counterattack, he rallied the troops on the ground, and personally scouted for enemy positions using his low flying helicopter, drawing intense enemy fire. He later received the Silver Star Medal, the Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star Medal with V Device, as well as three awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross and multiple awards of the Air Medal. He next served at again West Point as the Commandant of Cadets, before taking command of the 5th Infantry Division from 1969 to 1972. In November 1972, he was promoted to Lieutenant General, serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel for one year, before he was again promoted to General (4 stars), taking charge of Forces Command. General Rogers then served three years as the Army Chief of Staff. He considered his tenure as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander in Chief, United States European Command, as his best years, from 1979 until his retirement in 1987, during which he provided key leadership and political statesmanship to the European allies during the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan, the Iranian hostage crisis, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, and the American decision to deploy the Pershing II Missile System to Europe during the Cold War, only to withdraw the missiles following a treaty with the Soviet Union. After his retirement, he served as Honorary Director of the Atlantic Council of the United States, and was a member of the Association of the United States Army's Council of Trustees. He was made an honorary Fellow of Oxford University.