Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frank George Rogers was my paternal grandfather.

He was one of eight children, his mother passed away during childbirth in Melbourne Victoria and his father and siblings went to Perth to sty with his father's to unmarried sisters.

the sisters lived at the corner of Kerr St and Railway Parade in Leederville in two row houses with a common wall. Frank and his brothers lived in one house and his sisters lived in the other.

He left school to work as a warehouseman, I think the warehouse was located on Railway Parade close to his home but I am not sure. He was a very good athlete and played in the WAFL for Subiaco. He also competed in athletics and was a very accomplished runner, being trained by the brothers in the local Catholic school.

He joined up along with his brothers, William, the eldest, and Arthur. Other brothers may have joined (John, for example) but I am not sure.

William served at Gallipoli and then in Palestine, being promoted to a colonel and responsible for the light railroad in Palestine. He was a light horseman.

Arthur did not serve at Gallipoli but in France and experienced severe shell shock and had shrapnel wounds including losing fingers. His son, Bruce Rogers, was dux of Scocth College in Perth and entered Duntroon to become one of the most senior army officers before retiring circa 1980.

Frank joined as a driver in the 3rd Division DAC (Divisional Ammunition Corps). He trained at Blackboy Camp near Guilford in WA and learned to ride a horse there.

According to my grandmother, his wife, Frank was quite the charter learning how to ride. His wife, Gwyndyline Grey Rogers (nee Jones), born in 1898 and raised in the Upper Gascoyne on Arthur River Station, a sheep station, located approx 200 kms east of Carnarvon.

From what we know, Frank has numerous harrowing experiences and was wounded several times, mostly by shrapnel. In May 1918, he was moving ammunition to the front when German shells began landing around the convoy. I believe, according to his wife, that the location was Hellfire Corner, a short distance east of Ypres, a notoriously dangerous location that was constantly shelled by the Germans, day and night, in the hope of hitting transport and troops.

Frank ran and took cover behind an abandoned tank (a military tank). He noticed a younger and less experienced driver was trying to control the horses and stood up to shout to this soldier to take cover. At that moment he was hit in the left shoulder by a shell fragment that plunged deep into his shoulder taking his uniform with it and breaking through bone.

He was lucky to remain conscious and was able to find his way back to a field hospital where the English surgeon was ready to amputate his arm. Frank protested and finally told the surgeon that if he took off his arm he would shoot him. this compromise was made after quite a scene in which Frank prevailed over the medical team.

Frank was sent back to England, to Norwich, where he convalsced for approx 9 months before being shipped back to Australia in 1919. In perth, he underwent several operations to restore his arm and shoulder as best as possible. He married and had one son, my father, Ross Douglas Rogers, OAM and OBE.

He was advised to be outdoors and not take an office job. He spent his career in sales types of roles, teaming up with his wartime friend, Frank Beaurepaire, and Olympic swimmer and mayor of Melbourne, to launch Olympic Tyres in WA. In one demonstration, along the Perth foreshore, Frank leaned out of a speeding car and shot the tyre with a shotgun to show the safety features of the tyre.

He was a very good cricketer and on one occasion, while playing for Nedlands, he took 11 wicked in one innings as a wicket keeper. He was awarded a trophy for that accomplishement.

Frank, and his brother, Arthur, also took advantage of Frank's running ability. Arthur was a bookmaker and Frank the athlete and together they "rigged" running races which were popular in those days and which betting took place. Arthur was a redhead and so people never realised he was Franks brother and became suspicious of their collusion. Apparently, Frank would put lead in his running shoes to slow himself down to lose a race if that was the best outcome for the pair of them!

He lived in Perth until the 1960s and then ended up in Adelaide after he and his wife divorced. He re-married and took up bowls and represented SA in various competitions. In 1972 he died from prostate cancer.

I only met Frank several times when he visited my family in Kalgoorlie. My father and Frank were not close and so I saw Frank every 2-3 years for a brief period of often less than 3 hours. He seemed to be a positive and good natured man and was always polite. I recall him telling stories about the war which horrified a small child, e.g. I recall him telling us when he first saw Americans, they were coming to the front with a band playing and he and his team scurried away before the Germans heard the band and shelled the known behind the lines roads in the hope of catching troops unaware. Frank said he "saw arms and legs flying everywhere" as the shells exploded among the novice Americans.

As with so many Anzacs, he was proud of what Australia accomplished in the WW1 and it was clear to me he wanted the world to know that Australians were world class, albeit in the evil, gruesome and unnecessary context of war. He wanted to represent Australia well and be respected by other nations.

Frank came back to a life in which he had to live with a severe wound and find work and survive the depression of the 1930's. He joined the reserves in WW2 as he was rejected for active service on account of his wounds.

Like so many of his generation, we owe a debt of gratitude and more than that, it is now our responsibility to be world class and represent and contribute to Australia in whatever we do, to Advance Australia Fair!