Harold W. Roberts

Corporal, U.S. Army

Medal of Honor Recipient

World War I

Corporal Harold W. Roberts (14 October 1895 - 6 October 1918) was a U.S. Army soldier who was posthumously awarded the U.S. military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his heroic actions during World War I.

Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army Company A, 344th Battalion, Tank Corps.

Place and date: In the Montrebeau Woods, France, 4 October 1918.

Citation: Cpl. Roberts, a tank driver, was moving his tank into a clump of bushes to afford protection to another tank which had become disabled. The tank slid into a shell hole, 10 feet deep, filled with water, and was immediately submerged. Knowing that only 1 of the 2 men in the tank could escape, Cpl. Roberts said to the gunner, "Well, only one of us can get out, and out you go," whereupon he pushed his companion through the back door of the tank and was himself drowned.

Honors

Camp Roberts, CA, was named in his honor.

Death and Burial

Corporal Harold W. Roberts was killed in action on 6 October 1918. He is buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial in Romagne, France, in Plot B, Row 45, Site 36.