On this day in 1944 my father, 2ndLt Richard R. Rodgers, an artillery officer with HQ Battery, 12th Marines, was killed in action when thousands of Japanese did a Banzai charge the night of the July 25th-26th. Over the first 5 days, the Japanese realized that they would not hold out much longer and tried to cause as many casualties as they could that night.
My father was an outstanding student, multi-sport participant and played football at UCLA.
My grandparents received a telegram stating that my father had led a patrol up a hill to stop the Japanese from firing down on the Marines below. There are several books written about the battle that talk about my father in them.
Marine Corps Officers Capt Louis H. Wilson, Medal of Honor, and LtCol Robert E. Cushman, Navy Cross, both future Commandants of the Marine Corps, were in the same battle that night with the 9th Marines.
LtCol Samuel Puller, younger brother of then Marine Col “Chesty” Puller, was killed the next day. The 3rd Marine Division began the battle on July 21st which is still celebrated as Liberation Day in Guam.
24 years later on this same day in 1968, I was also an artillery officer in the Marine Corps in the same 12th Marines serving for 13 months in Vietnam, supporting the same 9th Marines at Con Thien on the DMZ overlooking North Vietnam.
After Vietnam, I was assigned to teach the Marine Corps Reserves in Los Angeles, and I was also the Casualty Officer for the Marine Corps for greater Los Angeles from 1969 to 1971. The years 1968 and 1969 had some of the heaviest fighting in Vietnam, with more than 58,000 who died during the entire war.
The circle was complete as now I was the Officer standing at the front door of the wife and/or parents with the notification of their deceased Marine far too many times. Our unit provided assistance to these families and the Marines for the funerals of these deceased.
Richard R. Rodgers, Pres & CEO, CED Solutions, LLC
www.cedsolutions.com