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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

General F. Michael "Mike" Rogers served in the U.S. Air Force from 1942 until 1978 during which time he rose from the rank of private to four-star general. After enlisting in Boston and graduating as an aviation cadet, he served in World War II as a Squadron Commander in the European Theater of Operations. He became a fighter ace while flying a P-51 aircraft, the "Beantown Banshee."

After the war, General Rogers spent 10 years in Air Force Intelligence, first as the Air Attache to the American Embassy in Madrid, and later as a member of the Joint Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1961, General Rogers graduated from the National War College and was appointed the senior Pentagon Military Officer charged with setting up the Department of State Operations Center at the instigation of the Kennedy White House. Subsequently, while serving as Deputy Chief of Staff of Development Planning, Air Force Systems Command, he was responsible for the concept formulation for the F-15 Eagle, the A-10, the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), the B-1 Bomber, and the Minuteman III missile.

In 1970, General Rogers became the Senior Member of the Armistice Commission of the United Nations Command in South Korea. His tour of 13 months of negotiations with the North Koreans and the Chinese was the longest of any Senior Member since the beginning of the Armistice, and his promotion to Lieutenant General marked the first time anyone in any branch of the armed forces had been promoted after serving in that position.

Upon his return to the United States in 1972, General Rogers served as the Vice Commander of the Air Training Command in San Antonio, Texas, and then as the Commander of the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. From 1975 to 1978, he commanded the Air Force Logistics Command (subsequently called Materiel Command) where he was responsible for all U.S. Air Force logistical support worldwide.

General Rogers was awarded 23 combat medals including the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster. He was also awarded four Distinguished Service Medals. His foreign awards include the Order of Aeronautical Merit from the King of Spain and the highest award given by the Republic of Korea.

Upon retirement from the Air Force in 1978, General Rogers became an investment banker and later became President and Chief Executive Officer of Regent Air, a luxury airline serving travelers between New York and Los Angeles. In 1986, he became the founding Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MGM Grand Air, also a luxury airline serving the New York — Los Angeles market. In 1999, General Rogers became part of an investment partnership dedicated to the application of nanotechnology to the science of rocket propulsion.

In 1949 General Rogers, then a major, married Virginia Gordon Baker. Together they had four children: Ginna, Stephen, Derek, and Ian.