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Francis Edward Rogers - Information

The Rogers family lived on a property called Minchin in Campbelltown. They had moved there from Sydney, where Francis was born in Burwood in 1894. He did fairly well in school and completed further training to become a woolclasser. Just before the Gallipoli Campaign commenced, Francis enlisted in the AIF in Liverpool on the 10th of April 1915, aged 21. He said goodbye to his family and joined the Light Horse. During training, he was posted to the 8th Reinforcements, 6th Light Horse Regiment in early May. He was then shipped out from Sydney onboard the HMAT Suffolk on the 28th of July 1915.

Francis arrived in Egypt, and joined his comrades in arms at Gallipoli. After some very bitter fighting, the Gallipoli Campaign had proved too costly and was called off. In the new year, he returned to Egypt, transferred to the 2nd Light Horse Regiment. The 2nd Regiment was then sent out to patrol the Nile Valley and Suez Canal. Protecting the canal, they engaged the Turks during the Battle of Romani on the 4th of August 1916. Here, Francis was wounded in action, receiving a painful bullet wound to his hip. He was taken to the 26th Casualty Clearing Station in Kantara, and was then admitted to the 3rd General Hospital in Cairo. Francis recovered from his wound and was given lighter duties stationed to the Australian Army Postal Corps in early November. While he was with the Postal Corps, he was charged with stealing nine cases of beer from a railway truck in Moascar in December. He was found guilty and sentenced to four months confinement. His sentence was then commuted to three months imprisonment in Cairo.

Francis completed his time in detention on the 28th of March 1917. Upon release, he was taken on strength to the 2nd Light Horse Training Regiment. In mid April, he was attending a School of Instruction, and by May had returned to the 6th Light Horse Regiment. Francis then completed extra training in September, and was appointed Driver. In 1918, operations moved out of Palestine and into the Jordan Valley. Here, Francis was wounded in action a second time. Early in the year, he was caught in a gas attack, and had to be evacuated to England for treatment, admitted to Birmingham War Hospital. At the end of May, he had rejoined his unit back in Jericho. Here, he reverted to Trooper, and was able to reunite with his little brother, Robert, whom had been transferred to his unit. Towards the end of the year, Francis started to feel very ill, reporting to hospital in October with malaria, where he remained until the war ended in November. He was released in December, however, while he was under observation, doctors uncovered that Francis was suffering with a nasal obstruction. In fact, he had difficulty breathing for the previous three years. This would have been a result of the many sand storms and the gas attack. Because of the nasal obstruction, Francis was sent home on the HT Margha on the 29th of January 1919 for a medical discharge.