By Kathryn Skelton,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Doug Rogers spent five years as a supply assistant on a tiny South Atlantic island that served as a dot in the U.S.’s intercontinental missile testing range.

There wasn’t much by way of entertainment. Dating – given six single British nurses to 800 single men – was out.

So Rogers gave his off-hours to tagging sea turtles and starting a museum from scratch. A discovery gave his name to a new species of shrimp. And he spent long hours collecting 1,000-plus island rocks and minerals that include volcanized bird poo.

He modestly explains it as a man making the most of time, and opportunity.

Connections made during his Navy service led Rogers, 65, to a job with Pan-American World Airways on Ascension Island in 1966.

It’s a British territory, entirely government-owned, but Pan-Am had the contract to run a U.S. missile tracking facility there. Ascension was part of what National Geographic dubbed in 1959 “Cape Canaveral’s 6,000-mile Shooting Gallery.”

“They would never make an announcement down-range” about when and where particulars, Rogers said. Sometimes, “it looked like Fourth of July, it was unreal.”

He had an interest in archaeology growing up in Ohio and found the desolate, varied terrain intriguing. The volcanic island would go from smooth, ashy surfaces to “walking through a bag of potato chips and glass” to lush farmland.

And it had a certain mystique. Famed evolutionist Charles Darwin visited in 1836.

“It’s an interesting feeling to stand in a place, right on the spot, and see exactly what he saw. It just will transport you right back to that time,” Rogers said.

As a volunteer, he got involved tagging Ascension green sea turtles for the University of Florida. “That’s me with the blood on my face,” Rogers said, pointing to a black-and-white photo of a half-dozen men wrestling a giant turtle. The big guy had nicked him with its flipper.

Rogers took long hikes on weekends – often leading officers’ and other technicians’ children – and always brought a canvas bag to collect rocks. (They were too sharp to simply pocket.)

The collection got big, fast.

He gathered clear crystals, pumice, smooth obsidian and some of his favorites, volcanic “bombs.” Bombs, twisting or smooth or rounded, all different sizes, flew out during volcanic eruptions hundreds of years ago.

The samples have been featured in talks to school groups, historical societies and bird clubs.

“In schools, of course the kids are all excited. They ask all kinds of questions, How high up in the air do (bombs) go?’ Would it hurt if you stood underneath?’ They have no idea of the danger,” Rogers said.

His time on the island was immortalized by helping bring a new species to light.

Rogers sent samples of two species of shrimp living in volcanic tidal pools to the Smithsonian Institute hoping to interest them in a visit. Turned out the shrimp were unknown.

Scientists were intrigued. They came down and studied the creatures, later naming one Typhlatya rogersi, after him.

Rogers’ shrimp is one-eighth of an inch long, white, with an orange belly.

They’re teeny.

“You had to get right down on your hands and knees to see them,” he said. “Can you imagine spreading its leg and seeing if it’s male or female?”

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