The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX47910) Acting Corporal Herbert Charles Rogers, 2/2nd Battalion, Second World War

Place Oceania: New Guinea1, Papua New Guinea, Papua, Owen Stanley Range, Buna Area, Sanananda
Accession Number PAFU2014/355.01
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 27 September 2014
Access Open
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (NX47910) Acting Corporal Herbert Charles Rogers, 2/2nd Battalion, Second World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

NX47910 Acting Corporal Herbert Charles Rogers, 2/2nd Battalion
KIA 24 November 1942
No photograph in collection.

Story delivered 27 September 2014

Today we remember Acting Corporal Herbert Charles Rogers, who was killed in action at Sanananda, Papua, in 1942.

Herbert “Bert” Rogers was born on 2 August 1919 in Coraki, northern New South Wales. He was one of 11 children of Frederick and Irene Rogers. When the Second World War broke out in 1939 the family was living at Dairy Flat, some 100 kilometres northwest of Coraki, where Herbert Rogers was working as a timber getter. With brown hair and blue eyes, Herbert Rogers was nearly 21 years old when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1940. Three other brothers also served in the army during the war and another brother later served in the navy.

After completing his initial training, Rogers left Australia for the Middle East in April 1941 and joined the 6th Division’s 2/2nd Battalion in late May. At that time the battalion was in Palestine, recovering from the disastrous campaigns on mainland Greece and Crete.

In late September Rogers became ill with pneumonia, spending several weeks in hospital and convalescent depots. He did not re-join the battalion until mid-December.
Following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and start of the Pacific war, most of the Australian forces serving in the Middle East were eventually recalled to Australia. The 2/2nd Battalion left the Middle East in March 1942, but it and much of the 6th Division were diverted to Ceylon (current-day Sri Lanka). After several months of garrisoning the island, the battalion finally reached Australia in early August, disembarking in Melbourne. Their time in Australia, however, was brief.

With Japanese forces advancing along the Kokoda Trail across the Owen Stanley Range in Papua, part of the 6th Division was sent to Port Moresby. The 2/2nd Battalion arrived there in September and soon participated in the Australian advance back across the trail, fighting major actions at Templeton’s Crossing in October and then at Oivi in November. In the meantime Rogers was promoted to acting corporal.

Defeated at Milne Bay and having withdrawn back across the Kokoda Trail, the Japanese made their final stand in Papua on the northern beachheads at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda. From late November the 2/2nd Battalion fought one of its toughest actions of the war around Sanananda, and suffered heavily from battle casualties and sickness. By the time it was withdrawn from the Sanananda Track in December the battalion’s strength was fewer than 100 men.

Acting Corporal Herbert Rogers was among the battalion’s dead, killed on 24 November. He was 23 years old. Less than a month later Rogers’s uncle, Private Lyle Hicks, was killed in action at Buna.

On the second anniversary of Rogers’s death, his family chose the following words to remember his sacrifice: “He gave his life in freedom’s cause. He gave his life.”

Rogers is buried in Bomana War Cemetery outside of Port Moresby. He is also commemorated here, on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 Australians who died during the Second World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

We now remember Acting Corporal Herbert Charles Rogers and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX47910) Acting Corporal Herbert Charles Rogers, 2/2nd Battalion, Second World War (video)