An 1917 article in The Welland Telegraph about Ernest “Ernie” Arthur Rogers after he was wounded. (Charles Wesley Murray.)
A story in a newspaper publishes what Richard “Dick” Charles Rogers wrote home from France. (Charles Wesley Murray.)
Ernest “Ernie” Arthur Rogers' Memorial Medallion. (Charles Wesley Murray.)
Ernest Rogers and Richard Rogers' names listed (third row from bottom, second and third from left) on the Welland-Crowland War Memorial in Welland, Ontario. (Charles Wesley Murray.)
The Welland-Crowland War Memorial in Welland, Ontario, where Ernest Rogers and Richard Rogers' names are listed. (Charles Wesley Murray.)
Richard “Dick” Charles Rogers' Memorial Medallion. (Charles Wesley Murray.)
Brothers Ernest “Ernie” Arthur Rogers and Richard “Dick” Charles Rogers. (Charles Wesley Murray.)
Annie Rogers (right), Ernie and Richard Rogers’s mom, and Amelia, their sister, await word of Ernie and Richard’s wellbeing in this photo circa spring 1917 in Welland, Ontario. (Charles Wesley Murray.)

Rogers Brothers

Brothers Ernest “Ernie” or “Ern” Arthur Rogers and Richard “Dick” Charles Rogers were companions in life, at war and in death.

The brothers enlisted together on August 13, 1915, from their hometown of Welland, Ontario. They served together as privates in the 86th Machine Gun Battalion. Richard was fine in the trenches with the as long as his little brother was well.

“Poor Dick he is certainly a changed boy in the trenches and always happy and contended as long as Ern was alright,” wrote their cousin, Art Forster in a letter home from overseas.

But on April 3, 1917, Canadian soldiers were lined up in tunnels and trenches getting ready for the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Ernie was in charge of a machine gun at the outpost at the front lines when he was hit by a German whizz bang — an eighteen-pound shell.

“As soon as I saw the kid I knew that his wound was much more serious than they had tried to make me believe,” Rogers wrote in a letter home. He said Ernie was in good spirits and told him that he only felt pain in his shoulder. “He never complained though. He was sure the greatest man I ever saw in my life.”

The following day the once star player on the semi-pro Welland Baseball Club died of his injuries at No. 42 Causality Dressing Station behind the front lines. He was buried at the Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension in France.

“If I go under, I only hope that I will prove half as game a man as my kid brother,” Richard wrote home.

He did go under and only a month after his brother on May 7. He was buried at the Orchard Dump Cemetery in Arleux-en-Gohelle, France —“At peace with his brother Ernie,” said their great nephew, Charles Wesley Murray.

“They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided,” said Rev. James Thompson of the brothers at a Welland memorial service.

Ernie was born July 24, 1894 in Welland and was the youngest son of his parents George and Annie Rogers. Richard was born in Buffalo, New York on September 20, 1892 and grew up and went to school in Welland with his four other brothers and one sister.

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Great War? Submit their story and it could be included on this Great War Album website.



Tags

Army (327), soldier (298), volunteered (285), died (126), family (124), killed (112), wounded (100), shot (34)
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