Harold W. Roberts

He saved his gunner by pushing him from that submerged tank.

Harold W. Roberts was born on October 14, 1895, in San Francisco, California. He served as a corporal and tank driver in Company A, 344th Battalion, Tank Corps, during World War I.

On October 4, 1918, in Montrebeau Woods, France, Roberts maneuvered his tank to protect another disabled vehicle. His tank slid into a water-filled shell hole and submerged. Realizing that only one crew member could escape, he pushed his gunner through the rear door. Roberts drowned while saving his companion.

His father received his posthumous Medal of Honor in San Francisco on April 15, 1919. Roberts is buried at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France. His award commemorates a deliberate sacrifice to give another soldier the chance to survive.

Medal of Honor 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 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 was himself drowned.