He would have celebrated his 55th birthday last Friday, had he been a healthy baby.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined hundreds of guests as the New Zealand Defence Force returned the remains to New Zealand last month. Photo / Greg Bowker
"There is something wrong with Desmond. I told the doctors. They aren't listening. They don't know what's wrong."
Those were Helen Rogers' panicked words, told back to Ruapeka later in life.
There were no answers until baby Desmond died, just before his first Christmas, on December 22, 1963.
Members of the New Zealand Defence Force placed baby Desmond Rogers' casket with those of the 27 New Zealand Army soldiers at Auckland Airport. Photo / Greg Bowker
His death certificate from Kinrara British Military Hospital, Malaysia, blames hydrocephalus (water in the brain) for the 3-and-a-half-month-old's death.
His father, also called Desmond, was deployed to Borneo soon after his family's traumatic loss, leaving Helen to process it, while caring for Renata, 5, Ruapeka, 3, and Michelle, 2.
Sergeant Desmond Pihopa Rogers in 1964. Photo / Supplied
She spent the rest of her life yearning for baby Desmond.
It led to episodes of depression and hospitalisations in Lake Alice and Sunnyside mental institutions, and electric shock treatment.
Desmond and Helen Rogers on their wedding day. Photo / Supplied
But in her final years, Helen heard comforting news from Ruapeka at her bedside.
There was growing support for the repatriation of servicemen buried in foreign cemeteries, and this would include baby Desmond, subject to her consent.
"I can quite clearly see the expression on her frail face of pure joy, followed by a look of resigned relief and a long pause - like a moment of reflection. 'That would be very nice son.'"
Baby Desmond's former grave at Cheras Rd Cemetery, Kuala Lumpur, where Ruapeka visited in May, to tell his brother he was coming home soon. Photo / Supplied
In May, Ruapeka flew to Cheras Rd Cemetery, Kuala Lumpur, "to tell Desmond he would be coming home shortly".
The remains were farewelled at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo / NZDF
It has now been 24 days since baby Desmond landed in Auckland International Airport, as part of the Te Auraki project.
You couldn't miss the startling white wooden panels enclosing his remains, among 27 much larger caskets, draped in navy blue New Zealand flags.
Members of the New Zealand Defence Force with the returned remains of baby Desmond Rogers and soldiers at Auckland International Airport. Photo / Greg Bowker
Ruapeka accompanied his baby brother in the Osbornes' hearse back to Rotorua; the Rogers' hometown.
Desmond and Helen's kids spent every school holiday "playing around and catching up" with their cousins there, during their father's military career, going from camp to camp.
His marae was Ōwhata Marae at Hinemoa Pt and Ruapeka got married there 35 years ago.
Members of the New Zealand Defence Force carried baby Desmond Rogers' casket at Auckland Airport. Photo / Greg Bowker
The hearse took baby Desmond back to the family home in Fenton Park, where he spent the night before a private funeral service and cremation was held for the Rogers whānau the next morning.
Baby Desmond Rogers' casket, carried from the tarmac. Photo / NZDF
Baby Desmond's urn now takes its rightful place on the prayer table in the family home, next to his mother's and father's.