Harold W. Roberts

Harold William Roberts (October 14, 1895 – October 6, 1918) was a United States Army corporal and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War I. 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 one of the two 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 drowned.

Roberts attended the nearby James Lick Grammar School in San Francisco. Shortly after graduating, on June 5, 1910, The San Francisco Chronicle published an essay by him about the value of having a fun summer vacation as part of growing up healthy and well-rounded. Another essay by him was published a month later in the Junior Section of the July 17th issue of The Call.

He attended Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, where he was the captain of the baseball team. After graduation, he worked construction and took a short trip through Mexico. He then enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley.

Career In December 1916, Roberts was sworn into the U.S. Army at Fort McDowell on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. He was assigned Army Serial number 1013943. After completing the very basic military training provided at that period to new recruits, he was assigned to the U.S. Cavalry. He was then sent to the Philippine Islands. There he was assigned to HQ Troop 15th Cavalry at Fort William McKinley Fort Bonifacio (commanded by Brigadier General Hunter Liggett).

Harold W. Roberts' name is engraved on the three-sided boulder, known as the Gold Star Mothers Rock, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. His name appears along with the names of 747 other local men and 13 women who died in World War I. The 18-ton boulder, located in "Heroes Grove" was reportedly quarried from the Twin Peaks area of San Francisco.

Roberts Avenue, located on Fort George G. Meade, a United States Army installation in Maryland, was named in honor of Corporal Roberts.

The Camp Roberts Historical Museum, located on Camp Roberts, California, has a large exhibit on Corporal Roberts in the style of a turn-of-the-20th Century parlor. The “Roberts/Seifert Parlor” represents the parlor in the home of his maternal grandmother, Christina Seifert, where he spent his teen years. It has a large portrait of Roberts on the wall, many period furnishings, and a motion-activated monitor that shows an audio-visual presentation of his life and times.

The current whereabouts of Corporal Roberts' Medal of Honor and other medals is a mystery. An article appeared in The Chillicothe [Ohio] Constitution-Tribune on April 26, 1945. The banner read, "Car Dealer Finds Congressional Medal of Honor In Old Car." The article read: Blytheville, Ark. April. Harold W. Roberts, who served with Company A, 224th Tank Corps in World War I, does not know it, but his Congressional Medal of Honor has been found. The highest emblem presented by the Government for extraordinary service was found in a used car purchased Monday by a Blytheville dealer, and an effort is being made through the War Department to locate its owner. Car dealer C. C. Egan, after finding the medal, contacted a Blytheville A. A. F. soldier from whom he had bought the automobile. The soldier explained that he had found the medal while stationed in California but had misplaced it.

A follow-up article stated that the medal was being sent to the War Department for return to the next-of-kin. Since Roberts was an only child, had no issue, and his parents were also deceased by that time, the only next-of-kin might be a second or third cousin. But genealogy searches have come up empty. Likewise, enquiries to the National Archives and Library of Congress have turned up nothing.

Samples of Roberts' medals are on display in his exhibit at the Camp Roberts Historical Museum, but the originals remain missing. It is against federal law for anyone to have a Medal of Honor in their possession unless they are the awardee or a family member of a deceased awardee.