Arthur Vincent Rodgers - 3531102

[Dave1212]

Arthur Vincent 'Art/Tony' Rodgers, the eldest of twelve children grew up in Halifax's North End. Prior to the war Art worked as a miner – he was also a boxer. This is how his nickname 'Tony' came to be. Apparently his boxing style was reminiscent of an American at the time – of Italian descent – named Tony, so the name stuck. Firsthand accounts have some people referring to him as 'Art', other remember him as 'Tony'. To simplify matters I'll be calling him Art for the remainder of this post...
 
The Rodgers Family has graciously shared some incredible photographs from their father's wartime collection.
 
Art enlisted in the Manchester Regiment May 2nd, 1939 – 3531102. This places him with William 'Bill' Lambert 3531101 (POW Dunkirk) as a travel companion & within the close timeframes of Ray Goodhew (April 24th, 1939) & Pat Duffey (April 28th, 1939).
 
Art was not with the BEF at the time of Dunkirk – he had been kept in England, we believe as an instructor. Art served with the 2nd Manchesters until August, 1941 when he transferred to the Toronto Scottish Regiment. Mel Coppell followed in October. From July 1944 to VE Day, they fought as machine gunners in the front lines throughout North-West Europe.

Returning to Halifax after the war, Art joined the Halifax Fire Department. He proudly served his community for 33 years before retiring. Two other men in our story, Pat Duffey & Robie Lewis joined Art in service with the fire department. Art passed away in Halifax, March 15th, 1991 – Age 72.
 
Despite rarely speaking & sharing his wartime experiences & memories with his family, Art left an amazing collection of photographs & documents of his time with the Manchesters & Toronto Scots. The next couple of posts will feature some of these items.

Arthur Vincent 'Tony' Rodgers Manchester Regiment 1939.jpg - I always like being able to place a face with a name so the first attachment features a photo of Art taken in May 1939 – he would have been 20 years old at the time.

Unidentified Manchesters 1939 - Rodgers Collection.jpg – This is a great shot! We do not know if these two currently unidentified recruits were Nova Scotians or English but it is a wonderful photograph.

[Dave1212]

The next two photographs are very interesting. No captions or anything written on the actual photos so we were hoping our experts might be able to provide more insight – do these field photos feature the Manchester Regiment or Toronto Scottish Regiment? Any comments or observations would be appreciated.

Machine Gun Crew - Rodgers Collection.jpg

Field Manoeuvers - Rodgers Collection.jpg

[Dave1212]

The last posting features a Christmas Card from either 1939 or 1940. The card itself when folded is only about 5" x 4" x 10" in total length so the scan provided is pretty good. I believe I see a few of the '100' lads in the photo but again, are our experts able to narrow down perhaps what Company this might be or even pinpoint the year?

Manchester Regiment Christmas Card - Rodgers Collection.jpg

manchester regiment christmas card cover & inside message - Rodgers Collection.jpg

Special thanks to Art's children, Tony & Nancy for sharing these items with us. It was wonderful being introduced to Art & learning more about him & his life.

As always, thanks in advance...

[Robert Bonner]

Dave.
The Christmas card shows the entire Regimental Depot staff and the Recruits.
The front row sitting and the row immediately behind are definitely the permanent staff. The remainder are the various platoons of recruits under training but assembled together for the photograph.

I suspect that 1938 would be the most accurate date.

[Dave1212]

This is great to know Robert. Thank you very much. Wouldn't it be wonderful one day to place names with faces for all of these men? George Lampier recalled the surname of one drill instructor as 'Buckley' – no other information available but it would be a joy one day to learn more about him & the other men responsible for the training of these new recruits. They certainly did an A1 job!

I realize the request for a specific unit ID for the field photographs might be a tall order. Does the landscape offer any clues? - even knowing where they might have been taken would be interesting to know. Do the white diamond markings on the helmets of the soldiers in the second photo indicate anything? Have our experts come across these specific photos before?

Thanks again Robert...

Cheers,
Dave