WWI · Battle Death Record
Harold Roberts
Corporal, U.S. Army · California
Medal of Honor
Personnel File — Core Information
- Name
- Harold Roberts
- Entered the Service From
- California
- Rank
- Corporal
- Service
- U.S. Army
- Unit / Regiment
- Company A, 344th Battalion, Tank Corps
- War
- WWI
- Date of Death
- October 6, 1918
- Awards
- Medal of Honor
- Burial / Memorial
- Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France
- Grave
- Plot B, Row 45, Grave 36
Their story
On October 4, 1918, in the Montrebeau Woods, France, Corporal Roberts was driving a tank that plunged into a water-filled shell hole and began to submerge. Realizing only one of the two crewmen could escape, he pushed his gunner out through the rear door with the words "Well, only one of us can get out, and out you go," and was himself drowned. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the second tanker so honored.
Compiled from American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and National Archives (NARA) records and public sources.
This record is one of more than 200,000 in our historical archive. Some information may have been corrupted or lost over decades of data conversion. Corrections are welcome — please contact the archive.