Vet shares stories with cadets and collection with museum
Herbert (Buck) Rogers joined Canadian Army in 1939 and became a signaller
Retired Bombardier Herbert (Buck) Rogers spent an evening at the Vernon Cadet Museum this week and shared some of his life stories with cadets who are only a little younger than he was when he joined the Canadian Army in 1939.
“My friend Porky (Ronald Jones) and I polished off a $2.50 jug of wine in Woodstock, New Brunswick, one night and drove to Fredericton to sign up,” Rogers said. “I was 18.”
Rogers was assigned to the Royal Canadian Artillery and became a signaller. While training in England, he recalls watching dogfights — Spitfires against Messerschmitt Bf 109s, considered the finest and deadliest of all Second World War fighter planes.
“One night I was talking to a girl and a 109 strafed the street. Her father had a machine-gun inside the front door, and I grabbed it and emptied the magazine at the plane. Didn’t hit anything.”
On another occasion, he watched a German pilot parachute onto Victoria Station in London.
“He was attacked by the civvies and the MPs (military police) had to rescue him.”
After training in England, Rogers spent 22 months in Italy and the Netherlands.
“We were at Ortona for five months, firing five rounds a day because that’s all the ammunition we had,” he said.
Rogers recalled digging slit trenches for protection.
“The first one, I dug with my bare hands,” he said. Rogers was wounded at Ortona. “A group of gunners were playing poker one night, and I was sent downstairs to work on some maps when the Germans opened up,” he said. “Seven of the men were killed and we were all buried in the rubble. I drove three of the wounded to the aid station and was given a shot of rum. When I was ready to return the truck to the regiment, the doctor said, ‘No.’ I had a wound on my scalp that kept me in the hospital for two weeks.”
After the capture of Ravenna, Rogers spent time at the cemetery, “crying my eyes out.” Four hundred and thirtyeight Canadians are buried there. His best friend, Porky, with whom he had signed up, was killed in Italy.
Later, in Milan, he witnessed the hanging of Mussolini’s body after his execution.
“He was hung upside down and looked like a stuffed pig,” he said.
Cadet Museum curator Francois Arseneault is grateful for Rogers’ contribution to the museum’s collection.
“He donated his uniform, medals, water bottle and a bugle,” Arseneault said. “He also donated three shell casings from the Mount Blanc, one of the ships involved in the Halifax explosion.”