Jack Alan Rogers

September 19, 2014, at a local health care center.

He lived a storybook life of adventure. After graduating from high

school he joined the merchant marine as a seaman and sailed

around the world for the Dollar Steamship Line, carrying

passengers and cargo. On return after two years at sea he enrolled

in college, graduating in 1941with a Bachelor of Science Degree in

Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and boxed on

the varsity team.

By participating in ROTC, he earned a commission in the US

Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery. Considering that

the Coast Artillery had experience at firing on moving targets,

when the threat of aerial attack was deemed more likely than an

attack by sea, this branch was discontinued and all its personnel

put on the insignia of the new Air Defense Artillery. He married

Jean Hamilton in the spring of 1942 undeterred by the preacher

who told them that a war time marriage would not last.

His unit was deployed to England in 1943 in preparation for the

invasion of Europe during World War II. Serving with the 463rd

Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion in the 79th Infantry Division, he

entered France without a passport in June 1944 over Utah Beach.

After the war his career advanced with assignments in both the

U.S. and overseas, while his family grew with the addition of two

sons. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1968 and retired in

1972 with over 30 years of service, of which 9 years were

overseas.

In retirement in El Paso, TX, he played a great deal of golf, finding

many new friends, and spent many enjoyable years spoiling his

grandchildren. He spoke at unit reunions and adopted the children

of his friends as brevet grandchildren, while keeping up with

extensive correspondence with scores of friends around the world,

writing letters in English, French and Italian. In 2005, he was

preceded in death by Jean, his wife of 53 years. In 2007 he moved

to Georgia at the behest of his children, but claimed to all who

would listen that he had been abducted. A long standing cardiac

problem worsened in 2010 and he volunteered to participate in an

experimental heart valve replacement study, quipping that if he

were to be a guinea pig, the scientists should at least provide him

with free lettuce.

He was exceedingly generous to both his own and brevet

grandchildren, providing them with adventure books and exciting

stories of his own experiences at sea and in the war. As a person

who was devoted to lifelong learning, he subsidized programs that

provide free books for needy children. Whenever his children and

grandchildren read a book, they will be reminded of him as the

person who bequeathed them the love of books and the importance

of reading. After 97 years, he left this world a better place than he

found it.

Survivors include two sons, Dr. Jack (Sara) Rogers, Jr., Lindale, and

Dr. Jim (Patricia) Rogers, Charlotte, NC; four grandchildren, Mark (Emily)

Rogers, Jane Rogers (Vincent) Argentina, Ben (Kathy) Rogers and Lee

(Maggie) Rogers; and four great grandchildren, Oliver and Stella Argentina,

Lucy Rogers and Julia Rogers.

A graveside service will be held Friday, September 26, 2014 at 2:30 p.m.

at the Ft. Bliss National Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the

Martin Funeral Home in El Paso on Thursday from 6 until 8 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Wounded Warriors Project

or to a favorite charity.