Title: James L. Rogers Memoir

Date/Date Range :   1998

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This memoir documents James L. Rogers's service with the Army Air Force (AAF) in the United States and Europe between 1942 and 1945.

Call number: MS-2578

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

James L. Rogers donated this memoir to the Special Collections Library in June of 1999.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], James L. Rogers Memoir, MS-2578. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

James Leonard "Cotton" Rogers (also spelled Rodgers) was born on April 27, 1921 on a farm near Summerfield, Louisiana to Cub Alfred and Nancy Norred Rogers. He was the youngest of five children.

Rogers attempted to join the armed forces shortly after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 07, 1941, but was rejected due to his stutter. He was drafted in August of 1942 and officially inducted on September 13, 1942. Rogers was assigned to the Army Air Force and subsequently trained as an aerial engineer working on B-25s, P-51s, and A-24s. Rogers began serving as a crew chief on an A-24 in the spring of 1943, and was assigned to Europe shortly after D-Day. Here, his unit flew missions over Europe from the A-5 airstrip near St. Lo, France. In the fall of 1944, they began following the 3rd Army across Europe, eventually ending up in Stuttgart. Rogers was officially discharged on September 13, 1945, exactly three years after his induction.

After, the war, Rogers returned home. He married Kathleen Cox on September 9, 1947, and they had four children. He and his wife are still living in Louisiana.

Although this monograph begins with Rogers's birth and ends with his retirement, the bulk of the narrative deals with his time in the Armed Forces during World War II. Rogers describes his desire to serve his country after the attack on Pearl Harbor as well as the difficulty of serving while impeded by a stutter. Among the most memorable parts of this narrative are his descriptions of battle in Europe, including vivid recollections of Omaha Beach shortly after D-Day and an attack on the A-5 airstrip in St. Lo, France. Rogers also shares his observations and opinions of German soldiers and the German army, including a teenage pilot that his unit took prisoner. He also documents more mundane aspects of Army life, including sending silk parachutes to his sister in Shreveport, Louisiana so that she could make dresses out of them and his unit's fraternization with Polish forced laborers in Germany.

• Rogers, James Leonard, 1921-.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Europe.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans.