Eugene Robert La Rocque (June 29, 1918 – October 31, 2016) was a rear admiral of the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. He founded the Center for Defense Information in 1971.

Early life

La Rocque was born in Kankakee, Illinois, in 1918 and began his naval service in 1940. When the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

was carried out, he was serving on the USS ''Macdonough''. He participated in 13 major battles during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and worked for seven years in the Strategic Plans Directorate of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...

. In the

Battle of Kwajalein The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place from 31 January – 3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the Battle of Tarawa, the Un ...

, he was the first man to go ashore in the landings at

Roi-Namur Roi-Namur ( ) is an island in the north part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Today it is a major part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, hosting several radar systems used for tracking and characterizing missi ...

. As a lieutenant commander, La Rocque was the commanding officer of USS Solar, destroyed on April 30, 1946, in an explosion in loading torpex at Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle (now Naval Weapons Station, Earle),

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Five enlisted men and one officer were killed with 125 others wounded.

Activism

He retired in 1972 and was disillusioned over the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. La Rocque and his colleagues testified before the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

, frequently appeared in the media, and consulted many national and international political leaders. In the 1980s, La Rocque founded a weekly public affairs television program, ''America's Defense Monitor''. In 1974, he stated that in his experience, any ship that is capable of carrying nuclear weapons carries them and does not off-load them in foreign ports. That statement directly conflicted with the

US Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...

's policy that it would "neither confirm nor deny" (NC/ND) on such weapons and sparked controversy in Japan, which has had a non-nuclear policy since World War II. He was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board in 1982.

Personal life

La Rocque had three children (John La Rocque, James La Rocque, and Annette La Rocque Fitzsimmons) with Sally Fox, whom he had been married 32 years before her death, in 1978. In 1980, he married Washington businesswoman Lillian Kerekes Danchik, who died in 1994, which left his two stepsons (Howard and Roger Danchik) from her first marriage.

Death

La Rocque died in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, at the age of 98. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

.Burial Detail: La Rocque, Gene R
– ANC Explorer

References

External links