Murray B Roberts was born on 01 March 1918 in Alabama. His parents Harry (1890-1960) and Maude (1897- 1984) were born in Georgia and North Carolina respectively. His father worked in the Electrical Industry before becoming a Reverend. Murray was the eldest child of the family and had one brother John and four sisters, Josephine, Florence, Ruth and Dorothy. Murray had two older brothers Horace who died in his first year and Ralph who died at birth.

On Dec 25th 1938 Murray married Nancy Laura Barnwell (1916-1983) at a ceremony in Tampa Florida.

By 1940 Murray had submitted his draft card. The 1940 Census indicates Murray and his wife Nancy and their four-month-old son, Harry, was living on East Palifax St in Hillsboro County FL.

He enlisted 24 Aug 1942 at Camp Blanding Florida where his records indicate he had completed four years of high school and was working as a shipping and receiving clerk. His height was marked as approx. 6' and was 155 lbs.

Most have seen or read the book “Band of Brothers” which shared the stories of the men of Easy Company from the 506th Parachute Infantry. Names like SGT Malarkey, Babe Heffron, 1SG Lipton are all familiar to us from that series, but one who had the potential to be one of these well-known hero’s is SSG Murray Roberts. SSG Roberts trained with all those men and was truly a hero along with many others. From D-Day till they returned to England a month later Easy Company’s numbers went from 139 for the 6 June mission to 74 back in England to recover and receive replacements.

From the US war memorials site it relays what happened that day- “SSgt Murray B. Roberts, NCO of “E” Company, 506th PIR 101st Airborne Division, took off from Uppottery, UK on a combat drop as part of Operation Albany. While over Sainte-Mere-Eglise the plane was hit by AA fire, causing one of the engines to burst into flames. The pilot tried to land the plane in a field by the RN13 but it clipped a hedgerow and exploded, killing everyone aboard. The wreck burned for three days. No bodies were ever found and vegetation hasn’t grown on the crash site to this day.”**

From the Memorial at the location of the crash it indicates “This plane, no.66, was at the head of its formation. Hit by shells from AA fire, it tried to crash land but crashed against a hedgerow and exploded. It burned continuously for three days, emanating a heat so intense no one could approach it.

Lieutenant T. Meehan III, commander of "E" company 506th PIR, was on board with his staff in possession of maps, documents, and plans that his troops sorely missed at the start of the landings… {The Plaque indicates} On D-Day June 6th 1944 at 0112 the crew of a C-47 from 439th Troop Carrier Group as well as 17 parachutists of the 506th Infantry Regiment and 101st Airborne Division lost their lives for our freedom when they crashed at Beuzeville au Plain. In memory of the C-47 crew of 439th TCG.” ***

In that crash the men of Easy Company not only lost their Commanding Officer they also lost 17 of their comrades, warriors and friends.

SSG Murray's grave is at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, along with all the others from his plane.

SSG Murray Roberts gave his life in the service to our nation. His sacrifice will never be forgotten.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project ( see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

REFERENCES:

Ancestry.com-1930 Census

Ancestry.com-1940 Census

Ancestry.com- Enlistment Records

Ancestry.com-Draft Cards

Ancestry.com-Interment records

SSGT Murray Bonnell Roberts (1918-1944) - Find A Grave Memorial\

Murray Bonnell Roberts : Staff Sergeant from Florida, World War II Casualty (honorstates.org)

Murray Bonnell Roberts, WWII Hero killed in action on D-Day (fl-genweb.org)

The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment(PIR) - 2nd Battalion Trooper Pictures (ww2-airborne.us)

The Real Story Behind The 'Band Of Brothers' Is Nothing Short Of Inspirational - LADbible

**Roberts Murray B. (uswarmemorials.org)

***Monument Details (uswarmemorials.org)