You don’t often hear about the guys who stay behind the big guns. Usually, the stories we get from the Vietnam War are about the grunts in the jungle, the Huey pilots, or the Navy SEALs on the rivers. But if you look into the charles rogers medal of honor dod records, you find something that sounds like it was ripped straight out of a movie script.
It wasn't a movie. It was real.
Charles Calvin Rogers was a math major. He was a West Virginia native, the son of a coal miner, and a guy who basically bled olive drab. By 1968, he was a Lieutenant Colonel commanding the 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery. That's a lot of responsibility. Normally, a guy at that rank stays at the command post, looking at maps and talking on radios.
He didn't stay back.
What Really Happened at Fire Support Base Rita
On November 1, 1968, everything went sideways. Rogers and his men were at a place called Fire Support Base Rita, right near the Cambodian border. It was dark. It was quiet. Then, at 3:30 a.m., the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) decided they wanted that base.
They didn't just sniped from the treeline. They hit it with everything. Mortars, rockets, and RPGs turned the night into a furnace of noise and metal. Then came the "human wave" attacks. Sapper units—basically NVA commandos—used bangalore torpedoes to blow holes in the wire and rushed the perimeter.
Honestly, it’s a miracle anyone survived the first ten minutes.
Rogers didn't hide in a bunker. He ran into the "hail of fragments," as the official Department of Defense citation puts it. He found his artillerymen dazed and bleeding, their howitzers silent. He didn't just tell them to get back to work; he stood there and showed them how.
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He was hit almost immediately. Shrapnel from an exploding round knocked him down. He got back up.
Think about that for a second. Most people, when a piece of jagged steel rips into their body, stay down. Rogers led a counterattack instead. He grabbed a handful of guys and charged the NVA soldiers who had already reached the gun pits. He drove them out.
The Second and Third Waves
The NVA didn't give up. They launched a second wave against another part of the line. Rogers, already wounded and refusing to see a medic, sprinted to that sector. He directed the artillery fire himself, essentially calling down hell on the attackers.
When the enemy got too close, he led another counterattack.
It's one of those things where you wonder where a person finds that kind of energy. By dawn, the NVA tried a third time. They were desperate to overrun the base. Rogers moved to the newest threatened area. He saw a howitzer crew that was mostly dead or too injured to fire.
He didn't just order a new crew over. He jumped on the gun himself.
While he was working that howitzer, a heavy mortar round exploded right on the parapet. This one really did it. He was seriously wounded, his body peppered with more shrapnel. He couldn't physically lead a charge anymore.
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But he didn't stop.
He stayed on the ground, propped up, and continued to shout encouragement and directions to his men. His voice was the only thing keeping the defense from crumbling. By the time the sun was fully up, the NVA gave up and retreated. They left behind a lot of bodies, but they didn't take the base.
Twelve Americans died that night. Sixty-eight were wounded. Rogers was one of them, but he was one of the ones who made it home.
The Legacy of the Highest-Ranking Black Recipient
President Richard Nixon handed Rogers the Medal of Honor on May 14, 1970. At that moment, Rogers became the highest-ranking Black soldier to ever receive the award. That’s a massive deal.
He didn't just retire and rest on his laurels, though.
He stayed in the Army for another 14 years. He eventually made it to Major General. If you look at his career, he spent a lot of time in Germany. He was a guy who cared deeply about his soldiers. He once said that the medal wasn't really about him; it was about the men who fought at Fire Support Base Rita. He called it an opportunity to remember the guys who didn't come back.
Kinda makes you look at leadership differently, doesn't it?
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Why the DoD Records Recently Made Headlines
You might have seen charles rogers medal of honor dod popping up in the news recently. There was a bit of a controversy in early 2025 where some pages on the Department of Defense website—including the one for Major General Rogers—seemed to disappear or redirect to dead links.
People got upset. Fast.
The DoD eventually said it was a technical glitch during a "website migration" and a purge of certain tags. They put the page back up, but it served as a reminder of how easily history can be tucked away if we aren't paying attention.
Rogers died in 1990 in Munich, Germany. He had become a Baptist minister after he retired. He’s buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 7-A, Grave 99. If you ever find yourself there, it’s worth a visit.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs
If you're researching Charles Rogers or the Vietnam War's artillery battles, here is how you can dig deeper into the actual primary sources:
- Check the Congressional Medal of Honor Society: They maintain the most detailed, vetted version of the citation. Don't just rely on Wikipedia; the Society’s database is the gold standard for "above and beyond" documentation.
- Search for Fire Support Base Rita maps: If you want to understand why Rogers' actions were so critical, look at the topography of the "Fishhook" region of Cambodia. You’ll see how exposed that base really was.
- FOIA Request for After-Action Reports: If you're a serious historian, you can request the unit's After-Action Reports (AAR) from the National Archives. This gives you the minute-by-minute radio logs and casualty reports that aren't in the "sanitized" citations.
- Visit the National Medal of Honor Museum: They have rotating exhibits that often feature the personal belongings and stories of recipients like Rogers.
The story of Charles Rogers isn't just about a medal. It's about what happens when a person decides that "leading from the back" isn't an option. It's about a math major from West Virginia who decided to be a shield for his men, even when his own body was falling apart. That’s why his name stays in the records.