James Walton Rogers was the son of Walton Garrett Rogers. He was born in 1917. Hometown Chattanooga. TN
He was lost in the sinking of the USS Reuben James and is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing in Cambridge, England. Also memorialized at Little Hurricane Cemetery in Winchester, Franklin County, TN
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, November 1, 1941
A Chattanoogan said his son was a crewman on the Destroyer Reuben James, sunk on convoy duty off Iceland during the night, today read a recent letter from the son predicting action “any time” and said he was not “terribly surprised.”
“We’re asking for it and as you predict, it’ll probably happen any time now,” wrote James Walton Rogers, 24, to his father, W.G. Rogers, on Oct. 15.
Young Rogers described a convoy trip “on our way down from Scotland” in which “we turned over our first westbound convoy into quiet and peaceful waters” and continued on to Newfoundland. “Yes, we saw and contacted several subs this 37-day cruise, all the zig-zagging way from northern Scotland,” he wrote, “but our job is only to drop ash cans to keep ‘em scared away from the convoy, but we’re asking for it and as you predict, it’ll probably happen any time now.”
The father said young Rogers volunteered for the Navy in January, 1940, and that another son volunteered for the Army and is stationed at Fort McKinley, Maine.
Seaman First Class Loyd Zean Voiles, also from Chattanooga, was lost in the sinking of the USS Reuben James.
- Rank: Seaman First Class Class
- County: Hamilton
- Hometown: Chattanooga
- Service Branch: Navy
- Division/Assignment: USS Reuben James
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing in Cambridge, England. Also Memorialized at Little Hurricane Cemetery in Winchester, Franklin County, TN
- Sponsored by: John B. Romeiser
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