Wallace Cole Hogan, Jr. – Major, United States Army

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Major Wallace C. Hogan Jr.
Attack Location: Pentagon
Age: 40
Home: Fairfax County, Virginia

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Major Wallace C. Hogan Jr., 40, who went by his middle name, Cole, was Army through and through. He had served with the Green Berets, the Special Forces and, ultimately, as a general’s aide at the Pentagon.

He loved every job, said his father, Wallace C. Hogan Sr.

He had hobbies, including hunting and car repair, but his focus was on the military, his father said.

“He was a very gung-ho military man,” he said. “He would have stayed in the Army until they kicked him out.”

Hogan, who grew up in Macon, Georgia, and was living in Fairfax County, joined the Army National Guard after graduating from Valdosta State College. He became part of the regular Army during the Persian Gulf War. He was stationed in Hawaii and Panama before his transfer to the Pentagon.

It was in Panama that he met his wife-to-be, Pat, an Air Force doctor. When Hogan fell ill, Pat was assigned to treat him, his father said. The two were together in Panama for a year. More than three years ago, they were transferred to Washington, Hogan to the Pentagon and his wife to Andrews Air Force Base. They would have celebrated their second anniversary in October.

The discipline of the Army appealed to Hogan, his father said: “He liked having to do things right.”

Neighbors said they hardly ever saw Hogan in uniform.

Some days, they said, Hogan would bike to the Pentagon from his home in the Alexandria area of Fairfax, whizzing down the street in bicyclist’s gear.

He was also a dedicated volunteer with a neighborhood revitalization program.

Sharon Brumleve, who lived up the street from Hogan, was the chairwoman of that committee. She said Hogan was a constantly friendly and positive presence. When Hogan became a general’s aide several months ago, he chatted about the promotion with his neighbor. Brumleve said Hogan told her he was nervous that the extra hours would take him away from his wife, but he was confident that the new job would help him keep moving up in the career he loved.

— Rosalind S. Helderman

Macon native killed in Pentagon attack to be buried at Arlington

U.S. Army Major Cole Hogan, the Macon native who died during the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, once told his wife that he wanted to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Hogan, 40, will get his wish.

His mother, Jane Hogan of Macon, said Friday that arrangements have been made to conduct a funeral for Cole Hogan on October 12 at 1 p.m. in the main chapel of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, an Army installation near Washington. Burial will follow at 3:45 p.m. at Arlington.

Many people have contacted the family to inquire about the funeral and burial arrangements, she said. The Army is putting together an obituary, which will be released later. But Hogan said she wanted to go ahead and let people know of the arrangements in case local friends want to attend.

The Army is scheduling a memorial service for the families and friends of those who died during the attack. That service is by invitation only, she said. It will be held at the Pentagon on October 11 – a month after terrorists slammed a hijacked commercial airplane into the west wing of the Pentagon.

Cole Hogan, a Green Beret officer who served as a general’s aide, was at his desk when the aircraft hit the Pentagon. Officials said his office was at the point of impact. His body was identified through DNA tests. It isn’t viewable, said his father, Wallace Hogan of Macon.

Wallace Hogan is in poor health, and there was concern that he wouldn’t be able to attend the services if they were held in the Washington area. But Jane Hogan said she and her husband will be among the family members who attend the Pentagon memorial and their son’s funeral.

“So many people have called us since this happened,” Jane Hogan said. “He had a lot of friends. We’ve heard from people that we didn’t even know about.”

Included in that group was Major General Robert Hughes of Macon, deputy commander of the 1st Army (RC). Hughes, a former commander of the Georgia National Guard’s 48th Infantry Brigade, met Cole Hogan when he was in the 48th.

Hughes described Hogan as one of Macon’s finest citizens, a soldier’s soldier. “He super-excelled. This guy was something. He lived a different kind of life,” he said. “We lost a soldier, but we lost a helluva an officer and a super guy.”

Hogan grew up in Macon. He attended elementary school at Tattnall Square Academy and high school at First Presbyterian Day School. He attended college at Valdosta State.

Hogan would have celebrated his 41st birthday October 9 – the same day he and Pat Hogan would have celebrated their second wedding anniversary.

Pentagon victim laid to rest
Macon native buried at Arlington

Macon’s sole victim in the September 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon was buried with full military honors Friday at Arlington National Cemetery.

Army Major Cole Hogan, the son of Wallace and Jane Hogan from Macon, was laid to rest near a stand of oaks among the 270,000 simple white tombstones that mark the final resting place of America’s military heroes.

Hogan was buried less than a half-mile from where he died. The charred exterior of the Pentagon and the gaping hole where terrorists crashed a civilian jetliner into its outer ring were visible beyond the distant trees.

In a vivid reminder of the heightened state of alert that has gripped the nation’s capitol since September 11, a black Huey helicopter flew low over the cemetery just minutes before Hogan’s funeral.

A brass band in Army dress blues marched slowly to the beat of a single drum as the procession neared. As the band turned into a shaded lane toward Hogan’s grave, it struck up “The Army Song.”

A caisson pulled by six black horses carried Hogan’s remains in a flag-draped coffin. Two of the horses, according to military tradition, bore no riders. A crowd of about 200 mourners – many dressed in Army dress green and Air Force dress blue uniforms – followed at a respectful distance behind their fallen family member, friend and comrade.

Many of those in attendance wore green berets that marked them as Army Special Forces soldiers. Hogan, 40, was an Army Special Forces officer. He worked in the Pentagon as the executive officer for the Army’s chief of plans and programs and was among 125 military and civilian Pentagon personnel killed in the attack. Another 64 people died aboard the jetliner.

An eight-man burial detail carried Hogan’s remains in a flag-draped box to their final resting place. The band played a low, somber tune. The burial detail stood at attention, holding the American flag stretched taut over Hogan’s grave as Army chaplain Lieutenant Colonel James May gave a brief service. He and the mourners recited The Lord’s Prayer.

The military men and women in the crowd stood at attention as a bugler played “Taps” and a seven-man party fired three rapid volleys in a 21-gun salute. The sharp reports of the soldiers’ rifles echoed under leaden skies.

The military men and women among the crowd continued to salute as the burial detail folded the flag. They marched briskly away after their task was done. The band struck up “America the Beautiful.”

Major General Phillip Kensinger, the Army’s chief of staff for plans and operations, presented the folded flag to Hogan’s widow, Air Force Major Patricia Hogan.

She and her husband would have celebrated their second wedding anniversary last Tuesday.

Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki spoke briefly to Hogan’s widow. Cole Hogan’s former boss, Kensinger, also presented her with a Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Medal on behalf of her husband.

Friends and comrades drifted toward their vehicles, as Hogan’s family gathered at his grave for a few moments alone. The clatter of horses’ hooves sounded on the asphalt as the caisson pulled slowly away.

NOTE: Major Hogan was laid to rest in Section 64 of Arlington National Cemetery, within the shadows of the Pentagon.

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