James Rogers VC (4 July 1873 – 28 October 1961.
James Rogers was born on 4 July 1873 in Moama, NSW. In 1886 his family moved to Victoria, where he worked on his father's farm.
Rogers joined a local company of the Victorian Mounted Rifles in 1898. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War he enlisted as a private in the 1st Victorian Mounted Infantry Company. He subsequently arrived at Cape Town in South Africa in November 1899, where his contingent was allocated to a composite Australian regiment which served in the Cape Colony and Orange River. In May 1900 he was seconded to the Provincial Mounted Police in Orange River Colony as a CPL. Rogers subsequently remained in South Africa at the conclusion of his period of service, joining the South African Constabulary. He was 26 years old, and a SGT in the South African Constabulary, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
On 15 June 1901, at Thaba ‘Nchu, Orange Free State, during a skirmish, a party of the rearguard, consisting of a lieutenant, Sergeant Rogers and six men, was attacked by about 60 Boers. When the lieutenant's horse was shot, Sergeant Rogers rode back, took the lieutenant up behind and carried him for half a mile on his own horse. The sergeant then returned to within 400 yards of the enemy and rescued two other men who had lost their horses. Afterwards, he caught two horses and helped their owners to remount. Throughout this period he was under heavy fire. The Boers were near enough to Sergeant Rogers to call upon him to surrender; his only answer was to continue firing.
After returning to Australia in late 1901 Rogers was commissioned as a LT in the 6th Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse, and embarked for South Africa again on 19 May 1902. Following the conclusion of the war his battalion returned to Australia, and he received his Victoria Cross from the acting governor-general, Lord Tennyson, on 18 September 1902 at Government House, Melbourne. He had previously been MID. Rogers then unsuccessfully sought to obtain a commission in the Australian Military Forces and, after buying and selling a property near Yea, VIC, returned to South Africa where he worked as detective with the Cape Police until February 1904.
Following the outbreak of the First World War Rogers was appointed as a lieutenant with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade Train, Australian Army Service Corps. He was wounded at Gallipoli on 4 August 1915, and after recovering in hospital in Egypt later served in the Anzac Provost Corps before being returned to Australia for medical reasons in June 1916. Although his appointment in the AIF was terminated on 31 December 1916, he continued to serve on home duties as a CAPT until the end of the conflict. He subsequently transferred to the reserves on 1 June 1922.
He died on 28 October 1961, in Concord Repatriation Hospital, Sydney. He was buried in Springvale Cemetery, Victoria. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.