Allegiance United States Name Gene Rocque Years of service 1940 – 1972 Battles and wars World War II | Rank Rear Admiral Battles/wars World War II | |
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Other work Center for Defense Information | ||
Service/branch United States Navy | ||
Eugene Robert La Rocque (June 29, 1918 – October 31, 2016) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy who founded the Center for Defense Information in 1971.
Biography
La Rocque was born in Kankakee, Illinois in 1918 and began his naval service in 1940. When the attack on Pearl Harbor was carried out, he was serving on the USS Macdonough. He participated in 13 major battles in World War II and worked for seven years in the Strategic Plans Directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In the Battle of Kwajalein, he was the first man to go ashore in the landings at Roi-Namur.
He retired in 1972, disillusioned over the Vietnam War. La Rocque and his colleagues testified before Congress, 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 nuclear weapons and does not off-load them when they are in foreign ports. The statement directly conflicted with the Department of Defense's "neither confirm nor deny" (NC/ND) policy regarding such weapons and sparked controversy in Japan, which has had a non-nuclear policy since World War II.
As a Lieutenant Commander, La Rocque was commanding officer of USS Solar, destroyed on April 30, 1946, in an explosion while loading torpex at Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle (now Naval Weapons Station, Earle) in New Jersey. Five enlisted men and one officer were killed with 125 others wounded.
La Rocque died in Washington, D.C. October 2016 at the age of 98.