Anthony (Tony) ROGERS

ROGERS, Anthony

Service Number: 22442
Enlisted: 31 January 1916
Last Rank: Bombardier
Last Unit: 7th Field Artillery Brigade
Born: Footscray, Victoria, Australia, 16 April 1879
Home Town: Footscray, Maribyrnong, Victoria
Schooling: Geelong Road State School No. 253, Victoria, Australia
Occupation: Engine Driver
Died: Shrapnel Through Head, France, 22 October 1917, aged 38 years
Cemetery: Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery, Vlamertinghe, Flanders, Belgium
XII. F. 2.
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

31 Jan 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Bombardier, 22442, 23rd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade
20 May 1916: Involvement Driver, 22442, 23rd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Medic embarkation_ship_number: A7 public_note: ''
20 May 1916: Embarked Driver, 22442, 23rd Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade, HMAT Medic, Melbourne
6 Jan 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Driver, 22442, 7th Field Artillery Brigade, Third Ypres
22 Oct 1917: Involvement Bombardier, 22442, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 22442 awm_unit: 27th Australian Field Artillery Battery awm_rank: Bombardier awm_died_date: 1917-10-22

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Biography contributed by Adelaide High School

Anthony ‘Tony’ Rogers was born to Anthony Rogers and Eliza Walsh on the 16th of April 1879. Though his enlistment form claims his residency in East Melbourne, nothing else ties him to East Melbourne. He spent most of his life in Footscray, Melbourne and attended Geelong State School No. 253. Rogers became an engine driver and fitter for Borthwick and Sons and the Defence Department before enlisting to the army on the 31st, January 1916. He had been married three times before he embarked at age 36 on 20th May 1916 and was currently married to Mary Steedman. 

He was assigned to the 23rd Howitzer Brigade, Reinforcements at Maribyrnong as a gunner and appointed driver on 1st May 1916. Embarking on 20th May 1916, he boarded the Medic and later arrived in Plymouth where he and his brigade took on the force of the 36th Battery, 23rd Field Artillery Brigade. He travelled overseas to Ypres, Belgium on 31st of December, and served at the Western Front. He was transferred to the 27th Battery, 7th Field Brigade on the 6th of January 1917. Rogers was appointed acting bombardier on the first day of October and, three weeks later, he was killed in action instantly due to a shrapnel strike through his head in Ypres, Belgium. A witness states: ‘I knew casualty, he was a well-built man, about 5' 10" fair complexion, about 35 years of age, known as Tony.  Casualty was returning from the Battery with pack horses which had been used to carry ammunition and along Corduroy Road, Zommebeeke Rac a high explosive shell landed right on the track, a fragment entering his head, killing him instantly.’

Anthony Rogers is currently buried in Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery, situated 3.6 kilometres west of Ypres, Belgium.

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