US Navy Chief James Edward Rogers was born in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri on July 3, 1882. His parents and early life are unknown at this time but we do know that he came to Pensacola with the US Navy. He had supposedly enlisted in the Navy on January 16, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York. However, records show that he first appeared in Pensacola in the 1916 City Directory where he was living at 615 West Main Street with his wife Anita and was listed as an aviator. Two years later, he reappears as a Chief Machinists Mate at the Naval Air Station in Paulliac, France during WWI.
There, on October 8, 1918 he died of bronchial pneumonia during the great epidemic of Spanish influenza. He was buried in the French Cemetery at Pauillac the day after he died. After the war he was disinterred and brought home to Pensacola and buried in St. John's Cemetery where his wife was living at 401 1/2 West Intendencia Street at the time.
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