S SGT Clarence E. Roberson was born on October 26th 1920 in Brookville, Campbell County, Virginia. To his Parents William K. (Served in WWI) born in 1899 to his death in 1967 and Mary J. Lerner born in 1901 to her death in 1958. Clarence grew up with seven younger siblings and attended Grammar school. Clarence worked as a manufacturer of Textiles. Clarence unfortunately never married or had children.

S SGT Clarence E. Roberson enlisted in the US Army on February 3rd 1941 in Lynchburg, Virginia, given the service number of 20363890. Eventually he joined with the 29th Infantry Division, 116th Infantry Regiment Company B.

In preparation for the Invasion of Normandy, the regiment held invasion rehearsal exercises, using landing craft, vehicle, personnel and Landing Craft Assault.

His unit was assigned to the Dog Green Sector of Omaha Beach, where they were met with beach obstacles, mines, barbed wire, and withering fire from automatic weapons and heavy artillery. The 116th regiment began the day with 3100 men. By the end of the day over 300 casualties.

The second wave began at 07:00, landing in a period of forty

minutes. Company B waded ashore around 07:26 and suffered heavy casualties,

although one of its boat teams took Vierville. By the end of the day Company B

had been reduced to 28 men.

On 6 June, the regiment suffered 341 casualties, including soldiers from Bedford-based Company A, a community which proportionally had the highest D-Day losses in America. The National D- Day Memorial was located in Bedford to honor their loss.

S SGT Clarence E. Roberson was killed in action on June 6th 1944, for his actions he was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Clarence is remembered and buried at Fort Hill Memorial Park, Lynchburg, Virginia.

Resources:

SSGT Clarence Edward Roberson (1920-1944) - Find A Grave Memorial

Clarence Edward Roberson : Staff Sergeant from Virginia, World War II Casualty (honorstates.org)

National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, USA; Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946; NAID: 1263923; Record Group Title: Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1789-ca. 2007; Record Group: 64; Box Number: 03423; Reel: 64

Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Virginia, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 620

National Archives at Washington DC; Washington DC, USA; Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941; NAID: A1, 2110-C; Record Group Number: 92; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project, with volunteers writing all of the 400,000+ WWII Fallen stories. (storiesbehindthestars.org) Can you help write stories like this one? Related to this project, soon there will be a smart phone app that will allow visitors at cemeteries or memorial sites to scan and read the stories of these brave men and women.

If you happen to find missing or incorrect information, please click on the name below. Send us an email and we will look into any information found.

Clarence E Roberson