ERNEST AND RICHARD ROGERS

IT’S SOMETIMES EASY to forget that the Battle of Vimy Ridge was not simply a four-day attack. It was the culmination of months of planning and preparation, and fighting continued to rage in the region after the battle.

During this time, many Canadians gave their lives to keep Vimy from falling back into German hands. Among the casualties were Ernest Arthur Rogers and Richard Charles Rogers, brothers from Welland, Ontario. Ernie died near Vimy Ridge on April 4, less than a week before the battle, while Richard died there on May 7, less than a month after the attack. In a sad twist, it was Richard who, in waist-deep mud, helped to carry the stretcher that bore his dying brother from the battlefield.

The deaths of Ernie and Richard came as a cruel blow to their widowed mother, Annie, and sister Amelia back in Welland.

The names of the Rogers brothers are engraved on the war memorial in Welland, Ontario.