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I couldn’t let this week go by without acknowledging the fantastic work of the many volunteers at the California Genealogical Society and Library.

That said, please be assured that this is one place where recognition is not a once-a-year occurrence.

There were many reasons why I started this blog for the society, and many goals I hope to achieve with it. I never doubted that there was plenty of content to share – beyond recording history or announcing society meetings and events – because of the richness and depth of the members themselves.

I hope you have enjoyed hearing about the people who are the California Genealogical Society. As I write about them you will find their names under “Labels” on the side bar to the right. Thanks, member-volunteers, for letting me share your contributions with the world. There are many more stories to tell.

William Harold Roberts is buried at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France near the place where he died. The cemetery is the final resting place for 14,246 soldiers, most of whom lost their lives in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive during World War I. It is the largest American military cemetery in Europe. Gary McMasters sees to it that Corporal Harold W. Roberts is honored every Memorial Day by having flowers placed at the gravesite from the soldiers and civilians at Camp Roberts.

On October 4, 1918, Roberts’ company was engaged in a fierce battle in the Montrebeau woods. Roberts and Sergeant Virgil Morgan were in a two-man tank, a French Renault, weighing slightly over seven tons and with a top speed of seven miles per hour. Sergeant Morgan and Corporal Roberts saw a disabled tank with a soldier crouched by it. As Roberts stopped his tank, the soldier asked for help. The reply was given that they would return after the battle and they drove off.

In an interview with Sergeant Virgil Morgan, the gunner whose life Roberts saved, Morgan said, “Bob, as we called him, came to our company last summer and almost at once he was liked by everybody. By his good work he soon was promoted to Corporal. There never proved to be a better soldier.”

The Medal of Honor was presented to Harold’s father, John A. Roberts. The citation reads “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, 10 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 us can get out, and out you go,” whereupon he pushed his companion through the back door of the tank and was himself drowned.”

Roberts was also awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Palms, The French Military Medal, and the Italian War Cross.

This Saturday, May 3, 2008, Camp Roberts is celebrating sixty-seven years at an Open House at the Camp Roberts Athletic Field from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. McMasters plans to unveil the completed portrait of Roberts that he commissioned of a Sacramento artist. He promises to send a photo of the completed work.

McMasters still hopes to locate the missing yearbook so he can see a proper portrait of Corporal Harold Roberts. If you have a 1913 Wilmerding High School yearbook, or you are a descendant of the Seifert or Roberts family, please contact the society.

Read the entire series:

• Part 1 — Searching for Harold Roberts
• Part 2 — Roberts: What We Found
• Part 3 — Roberts’ Battlefield Letter
• Part 4 — A Face for Harold Roberts

One of the items that Gary McMaster most wanted was a photograph of Corporal Harold Roberts. The CGS research team determined that Roberts graduated from Wilmerding High School in 1913. Unfortunately, no book for that year could be located in the archives of Lick-Wilmerding High School, the San Francisco Historical Society or the San Francisco Public Library. The June 1911 Commencement Issue of the school newspaper, Wilmerding Life, carried an informal group photograph of the class of 1913, but entirely without names.

Newspaper research yielded several articles about Roberts and his family, including marriage notices, obituaries and reports about his heroic death and honors. A few included photographs but most were small and without significant detail. The photo archives of the San Francisco Public Library’s History Center had a folder on Roberts which contained this image from the San Francisco Call Newspaper. There was no notation to indicate its source or whether it was ever printed.

One article covered the medal presentation of the French Croix de Guerre (Cross of War) made to Harold’s father, John Roberts, on the steps of the San Francisco City Hall in 1919. The item contained a small oval photo insert of Harold Roberts which McMaster is using to create a more accurate depiction than the painting that now hangs in the Camp exhibit. Curator McMaster made a blurred sepia drawing of the image and added the correct World War I issue helmet and uniform to create this likeness.

He has commissioned a Sacramento artist to paint a new portrait to hang in the base museum. It is scheduled to be finished and delivered to Camp Roberts this coming Saturday for a preview during the Camp Roberts Open House. McMaster has promised to send us a photograph of the finished work when it is hanging in the Museum.

Read the entire series:

• Part 1 — Searching for Harold Roberts
• Part 2 — Roberts: What We Found
• Part 3 — Roberts’ Battlefield Letter
• Part 5 — A Hero’s Final Resting Place