William C. Rogers III

Will C. Rogers III
CAPT Will C. Rogers III speaking at the end of Vincennes' 1988 deployment.
Nickname(s)	Will
Born	December 1938 (age 78) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1965 – 1991
Rank	Captain
Commands held	USS Cushing (DD-985) USS Vincennes (CG-49) Navy Tactical Training Group Point Loma
Battles/wars	Operation Earnest Will
Awards	Legion of Merit Meritorious Service Medal Joint Service Commendation Medal Navy Commendation Medal Combat Action Ribbon Navy Expeditionary Medal Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

William C. Rogers III, (born December 1938) is a former officer in the United States Navy, most notable as the captain of USS Vincennes, a Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruiser. While under his command, the ship shot down Iran Air Flight 655 in the Persian Gulf, killing 290 civilians and creating an international incident.

Rogers was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. His father, Will C. Rogers II, was a United States Navy psychologist during World War II. He has a younger brother named Dick, who was paralyzed in an automobile accident, leaving him in a wheelchair. Rogers majored in psychology at Baylor University and earned a master's degree in history from Trinity University in San Antonio. He taught high school science for two years before entering Officer Candidate School.

Rogers was commissioned December 1965 and his first tour of duty was in the engineering department aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Independence (CV-62). His next duty station was USS George K. MacKenzie, a Gearing class destroyer, stationed at Long Beach then later at Yokosuka, Japan. In December 1969, Rogers reported to USS Vreeland, a Knox class frigate to be the commissioning operations officer homeported in Charleston, South Carolina. Rogers first command was USS Exploit, an Aggressive class minesweeper also homeported in Charleston. After attending Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia Rogers worked with three Admirals in Washington D.C. and was assigned to the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group under the Secretary of Defense. This duty involved a series of trips to Israel in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In 1978, Rogers reported to the USS David R. Ray a Spruance class destroyer to be the commissioning executive officer, second in command. He would later command USS Cushing, another Spruance class destroyer, from September 1981 to August 1984. Prior to his command of Vincennes he served in the Pentagon as the head of a section in the Planning Division of Chief of Naval Operations.