Meet Col John H Roscoe

[originally published in Marine Corps League News Letter - May 2006 from Marine Corps League Breckinridge Detachment #10]

In another "Meet Your Fellow Leaguer" profile, I'd like to introduce you to John Roscoe, Ph.D. John is a gracious and fascinating gentleman, one who's multi-faceted career as professor, intelligence officer, polar explorer, earth scientist, aerospace engineer, and Colonel of the Marines has carried him to the Arctic and Antarctic, and to all the oceans and continents in between.

In his varied career, Col. Roscoe has taught geography, cartography, photogrammetry, economics and foreign relations at 5 universities and has lectured at some USMC schools. As a civil servant, he became the US military's first air photo and radar sensor image analyst at the request of the War Department in 1941. He was geographer and aerial reconnaissance officer to Admiral Byrd on 2 south polar expeditions, and indeed served as Byrd's Scientific Advisor and Internal Affairs Advisor until the admiral's death in 1957.

As an engineer and program manager at Lockheed, John was responsible for developing the airphoto payloads and processing systems for the original "spy-in-the-sky" satellites. He also developed advanced systems and techniques for geothermal power, military and industrial security, satellites for producing electrical power, ground remotely controlled reconnaissance aircraft, and methods for reducing collateral damage from nuclear weapons.

John served for 30 years as a Marine Corps Reservist. He was one of a very few Marines with combat experience in Europe in World War II, and served 5 times in Vietnam. In fact, John and Elsa's honeymoon in 1968 was while John was on one of his tours in Vietnam and Thailand; Elsa stayed relatively safely in Saigon or Bangkok while John was in more dangerous areas. He retired in 1973, at the age [54], but was called back many times, the last at age 70. He accumulated credit for 13 years active duty service. He was assigned to HQUSMC, which loaned him at times upon request to each of the other military services. He served briefly as the G-2, 1st Marine Division, at the Quantico's R&D Branch for the last 2 years prior to his retirement.

In addition to his active duty, at various times during his many tours John was assigned as a civil servant or civilian consultant to Army, Navy, or Air Force headquarters and other overseas organizations, as well as to various combat zones, in such fields as sensors, intelligence, and installation. John represented the Office of the Secretary of Defense in all 4 Corps areas of Vietnam with the assimilated grade of a 4-star General of the US Army (per the Geneva Convention). He has also served on Navy ships, Coast Guard icebreakers, and briefly with military or police organizations in England, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Educated at Syracuse University, UCLA, and the University of Maryland, John's military schools include the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, the Navy War College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He said that one of his professors taught him to become "more knowledgeable than anyone else in any 1 area, no matter how small that area, because a person who does this becomes the expert and is sought after by the encyclopedias. I had 2 such fields."

His unclassified publications include authoritative articles in published encyclopedias, some written under his own name, and some ghost-written by him for other people. He is listed in "American Men and Women of Science", "Who's Who in the West", "Who Knows--and What", among others.

Col. Roscoe has received many honors during his long career. In 1984, he was knighted in Rome by the Knights Templar for his services supporting the NATO Reserves. The United States named a glacier and a large promontory (both in Antarctica) after him in recognition of his discovery of previously unknown coastlines buried under very thick ice, his dissertation on glacier morphology, and his comprehensive Bibliography of Antarctic Literature. The President of Poland (in absentia in England during World War II)awarded John the Knighthood of Polonia Restituta and later a Knight Commander with Star of the Order of St Stanislas, thereby increasing John's knighthoods to 5, including the Order of St. John.

Born in Syracuse, NY, John grew up in Chicago, New York City, and Beverley Hills. In 1940, the War Department dispatched a colonel to Syracuse University to entice John to join the War Department. A year later, the colonel came to UCLA to tell John that he was "really needed," so John went as a civilian. He was later told that he had to become an officer or he would be drafted. "This could not happen because I was 4-F, but later, I chose the inevitable and, in a rare event, the USMC commissioned me without any schooling." Later, he attended a 30-day school for "retreading former USMC officers." John notes that he passed only by the help of his classmates. By error, he was then assigned by the local Marines to train a Seebee battalion building roads to navigate the swamps of Camp Lejeune near the ocean, and reports that "six weeks later, after I learned more than the Seebees, the Pentagon finally found me and brought me back."

John has served as the State President for the Retired Officers Association (now MOAA), as State Vice President for the Reserve Officers Association, as a National Director of the Navy League, as a national officer of the Naval Order, and as an officer or member of many veterans organizations, one of which, we are proud and honored to say, is the Marine Corps League and its General J. C. Breckinridge Detachment!

John has 2 daughters, both of whom live in Fremont. His son died at the age of 42 from cancer. He has 8 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren, with more on the way. A grandson serves in the Oregon National Guard, and another in the US Army. He and Elsa divide their time between their homes in Riverside and Portola Valley. When John is in northern California, we occasionally have the chance to visit with him at a monthly Detachment meeting - a treat not to be missed, for he is a superb raconteur.

Note from me: I wish I knew who wrote this article. I found several copies in various forms among my father's effects that he had edited and thought I would include it here.