Lance Corporal Alfred Rogers

Ruyton Remembers

Lance Corporal Alfred Rogers (24873)
8th Battalion Machine Gun Corp (Infantry)

Born in 1888 in Great Ness
Son of Alfred and Annie of Cross Villa, School Road, Ruyton XI Towns
Brother to Annie
He and his father were both Master Tailors

He joined up with the Gloucestershire Regiment and was sent to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force which landed in Gallipoli on 5th October 1915. He then went to Egypt and then to Mesopotamia. He was wounded and invalided back to the UK. On his recovery he joined the 20th Company of the Machine Gun Corp and later the 8th. In March 1918 the Battalion was defending the front line in the Somme section of France when the Germans commenced their massive spring offensive on 21st March 1918. British Forces were outnumbered by a ratio of 4-1 and were quickly pushed back across the old Somme battlefields. The duties of the Machine Gun Corp were to hold the line at all costs and delay the enemy advance, giving time for the Infantry and Artillery to pull back into new positions. In doing so the Gunners suffered tremendous casualties and became known as ‘The Suicide Squad’

Killed in Action 31st May 1918 age 29
Remembered on the Soissons Memorial, France