Medal of Honor

Awarded for actions during World War I

For extraordinary heroism on 4 October 1918, while serving with Company A, 345th Battalion, 345th Battalion, Tank Corps, in action at Montrebeau Woods, France. Corporal 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, ten feet deep, filled with water, and was immediately submerged. Knowing that only one of the two men in the tank could escape, Corporal Roberts said to the gunner, "Well, only one of U.S. can get out, and out you go," whereupon he pushed his companion through the back door of the tank and was himself drowned.

Service: Army

Rank: Corporal

War Department, General Orders No. 16 ( January 22, 1919)

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Harold Roberts lies at rest in Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France. He was 19 years old.

In honor of Cpl. Roberts, a California Native, Camp Nacimiento which was still under construction was renamed by The War Department "Camp Roberts" on Jan. 1, 1941. Camp Roberts, located 12 miles north of Paso Robles, California, on US Highway 101, served as a training and placement center through World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. It continues in service as a training and deployment center also the home of The California National Guard. There is a book in the Images of America series entitled "Camp Roberts."
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From Chapter 2 of FM 7-21.13

Corporal Harold W. Roberts at Montrebeau Woods

Corporal Harold W. Roberts was a tank driver in A Company, 344th Tank Battalion during the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. His company was advancing under heavy enemy artillery fire in the Montrebeau Woods. After about a mile, the tank commander/gunner, Sergeant Virgil Morgan and Corporal Roberts saw a disabled tank with a soldier crouched by it. As Roberts stopped his tank, the soldier crawled toward them, opened the door and asked for help. They said they could not help at the moment but would return after the battle and render aid and drove off into the heart of the German artillery barrage.

Ahead lay a large mass of bushes that they thought was a machine gun nest and drove the tank into it. In an instant, they found themselves overturned. Recovering from the shock they discovered the tank had fallen into a tank trap with about 10 feet of water in it. The tank had only one hatch and with water rushing in Roberts said to Morgan, "Well, only one of us can get out, and out you go." With this he pushed Sergeant Morgan from the tank. Morgan tried to assist Roberts, but with the heavy gunfire around the area, was unable to do so. After the enemy fire ceased, Sergeant Morgan returned but found Roberts dead.

Corporal Roberts was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the second tanker to receive it. Camp Nacimiento, California, was renamed Camp Roberts in 1941. It was the only Army installation at the time to be named for an enlisted soldier.
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At Fort Meade, Maryland Roberts Avenue is named after Cpl. Harold Roberts, Medal of Honor recipient, killed in action during World War I in France.

Roberts, Harold William, CPL