March 25 is National Medal of Honor Day, a day designated by Congress to honor those miliary men and women who have been awarded the nation’s highest military honor for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.”
It is a sad commentary that, just a few days before this date of remembrance, these and other honors and memories were trampled upon by Trump administration efforts to purge stories, images and other reminders of contributions made by certain service members because of perceived instances of support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs or initiatives, or because of allegedly having been beneficiaries of “DEI.”
One striking, shameful example is the removal from Department of Defense (DoD) archives the story of the highest-ranking Black Medal of Honor recipient, Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers.
Gen. Rogers was awarded the Medal in 1970 by President Richard Nixon for his “gallant defense of a firebase near South Vietnam’s border with Cambodia in 1968,” where then-Lt. Col. Rogers was wounded three times.
DoD featured his story in November 2021, as part of the series “Medal of Honor Monday” highlighting recipients of the nation’s highest medal of honor.
However, on March 15, the story was taken down as part of the administration’s misguided efforts to end government support of DEI programs and remove any references to (alleged) DEI “episodes” or reminders thereof.
After public outrage at such removals, the story reappeared on the DoD website on March 17, with the “dei” URL absent. This author has not been able to access the original November 2021 story.
However, starkly absent from the “republished” story are words that appear in Rogers’ Congressional Medal of Honor Citation at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty…”
Instead, we read,
Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers served with distinction throughout. Renowned for his exceptional leadership during a fierce Vietnam battle, he earned the Medal of Honor, exemplifying the warrior ethos and warfighting excellence.
While the DoD feature story summarizes Rogers’ “32 years of exemplary service,” there is no mention of how Rogers “worked diligently for race and gender equality in the military before he retired from the Army in 1984, after 32 years of service,” as told in a great story at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society by Kris Cotariu Harper, EdD, an Army wife and the daughter of two WWII Navy Veterans.
Please read the full, non-DEI-redacted story of “Lieutenant Colonel Charles Calvin Rogers: The Most Senior Black Soldier Ever Awarded the Medal of Honor,” and one of the 96 Black Medal of Honor heroes, below. A story that was published on the same day that the DoD page was “reposted.”
When General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked how an impoverished Black kid, son of Jamaican immigrants, who grew up in the south Bronx, could become the most senior active-duty person in the United States military, he reportedly responded, “Isn’t America a great place?!” Major General Charles Rogers would certainly have said the same thing.
Charles Rogers grew up in a small coal mining camp in West Virginia. His father, a veteran of World War I, was undoubtedly the inspiration for the path he followed. From him, he learned a love of God and a love of country. Later in life he was quoted as saying, “Everything I did in high school and college was done to make my mom and dad proud of me.”
Educated in the segregated schools of the 1940s and 1950s, he was quarterback for his high school football team, was elected student body president, and was consistently on the academic honor roll. He attended what is now West Virginia State University where he participated in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. He graduated with a major in mathematics, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Field Artillery, and entered the Army in the initial years of desegregation.
Rogers recalled having experienced overt racism and discrimination in his early career but was not deterred; he continued to serve with pride and hone his skills as an officer. His military and leadership skills, reinforced by hard work and determination, enabled him to progress to the rank of lieutenant colonel and be given command of the 1st Battalion, 5th Artillery, 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam. The unit was positioned close the Cambodian border, near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a supply route used by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) to bring troops and supplies to South Vietnam.
On Halloween night, 1968, Rogers observed heavy traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail bringing supplies to the NVA in South Vietnam. U.S. rules of engagement, however, prevented him from ordering an attack on targets inside Cambodia; he had to wait for the enemy troops and supplies to cross the border before his men could open fire. The North Vietnamese, however, had no such restrictions and fired rockets and mortars at the outpost from across the border. Rogers organized an effort to delay the expected assault on the base; he personally directed the placement of his howitzer batteries and the anti-personnel fire. In the early hours after midnight on November 1st, the perimeter of Fire Base Rita was breached by a much larger enemy force and the 1st Battalion was engaged in close combat.
Known as a leader who led from the front, Rogers went where the action was most intense, rallying troops and personally directing and redirecting the howitzer fire. He ran from position to position, even assuming a place on one fire team that had been diminished by casualties; engaged in close-range firefights; and was wounded multiple times during the three assaults. After being wounded so seriously that he could no longer fight himself, he continued calling encouragement and reassurance to his troops. Due in no small part to his courageous leadership, 1st Battalion prevailed and the NVA force was repelled.
On May 14, 1970, President Richard Nixon bestowed the Medal of Honor on LTC Charles Rogers, making him the highest-ranking Black soldier to ever be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Rogers continued his service and rose to the rank of Major General, making him the highest-ranking Black Medal of Honor recipient. He worked diligently for race and gender equality in the military before he retired from the Army in 1984, after 32 years of service, and became a Baptist minister. He returned to Germany to continue to work with the soldiers he loved and died there of cancer in 1990. MG Charles Rogers is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
