He wasn’t a true Texan. He was born in New York in 1904 to Massachusetts-born parents. His ANCESTRY.com profile has some gaps, but there is enough to tell us that his father worked in the Oil Industry and when he was in his teens the family moved to Wichita Falls. He was commissioned in the TXNG as a 2LT in AUG 1904 and is carried on the rolls of the 131 FA Bn as a MAJ (DOR 13 JUN 41). At the time of federalizartion, he became the Executive Officer (XO) second in command to LTC Tharp. He doesn’t receive much mention in any of the POW memores, but he figures prominently in Tharp’s diary. He apparently carried out the duties of an XO to the best of his ability. He often led advance parties and supervised small groups of the POWs on special assignments.
MAJ Winthrop Rogers’ most prominent mention comes in Eric Lomax’s book, The Railway Man, where he is described as one of the group who were arrested by the Kempeitai when a radio was found in the quarters where he was assigned. He was tortured, courts marshaled and sentenced to life imprisonment by the IJA. He was liberated from the Bangkok Jail where he was serving that sentence. VA records say that he was discharged in 1948, but returned to active duty from 1951-1957. He passed away in Tacoma WA in 1984.
Arrested along with MAJ Rogers and CPT Wlliam Parke was SM1c Melford Forsman
