Bernard Rogers

Bernard William Rogers (July 16, 1921 – October 27, 2008) served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army and later as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. He attended the U.S. Military Academy, where he was First Captain of the Corps of Cadets. After World War II, he was an aide to General Mark Clark, the commander of U.S. forces in Austria. In 1943, he returned to West Point as an instructor of economics, government and history. In 1947, Rogers received a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University. He went on to become a decorated infantry commander in the Korean War and held intelligence positions before becoming executive officer to Maxwell D. Taylor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962. As assistant commander of the First Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1966 and 1967, Rogers was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross – the Army's highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor – for leading a successful counterattack against a Vietcong raid on a South Vietnamese special forces camp. He r