Samuel Dickerson Rockenbach
Brigadier General, U.S. Army

Samuel Dickerson Rockenbach was born on 27 January 1869 in Lynchburg, VA.

Rockenbach graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1889 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1891. Prior to World War I, he saw tours of duty in Cuba, the Philippines, various U.S. posts, and served as a Military Observer in Germany in 1914.

He arrived in France in June 1917 with the American Expeditionary Force and from 1917-19 served as Chief of the newly formed Tank Corps, A.E.F. He was notable for his role in the establishment of the Tank Corps and for his work in the development of tank warfare.

At the end of the war, Rockenbach continued his work with tanks, serving as the Army's Chief of the Tank Corps and as Commander of the Tank School at Camp Meade, MD. He was promoted to Brigadier General in June 1918, and subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

He retired to Brownsville, TX, in 1933.

Personal

He married Emma Baldwin on 19 October 1898.

Death and Burial

Brigadier General Samuel Dickerson Rockenbach died on 16 May 1952 at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.