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Remember...John Robert Roberts
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Army Sergeant John Robert Roberts was born January 7, 1915, in Garretts Bend, Lincoln County, West Virginia, to Bertha Wheeler Roberts and James Calvin Roberts. Although little is known of his early life, he grew up in Lincoln County with his older sister Flossie (married name: Racer) and younger brother and sister Cecil and Macel (married name: Schillings). Bertha died in 1925, when John would have been ten years old, and, according to the 1940 Federal Census, John completed school only through the seventh grade. His father died in 1938, and apparently John had been living independently for some time. According to his headstone application, John enlisted in the U.S. Army on November 16, 1939, and the 1940 census shows him to be living in Southold, Suffolk County, New York.
| When he was 27 years old, John married Violet Grace Wright in Newport News, Virginia, on January 29, 1942. However, on July 21, 1944, Violet filed for divorce in the state of Michigan, and it was granted on November 27, 1944. By this time, Sgt. Roberts would already be serving overseas as part of Company A, 9th Infantry Division (the "Old Reliables"). The Division had been organized during World War I, but did not see combat at the time. | ![9th Infantry Division should patch. Image created by Steven Williamson. As [I am] a United States Army soldier, it is considered the work of the United States Federal Government, and as such is in the public domain.](robertsjohn02.jpg) 9th Infantry Division should patch. Image created by Steven Williamson. As [I am] a United States Army soldier, it is considered the work of the United States Federal Government, and as such is in the public domain. |
However, the Division was heavily involved from the time the U.S. entered combat in World War II, as briefly noted here:
The 9th Infantry Division was among the first U.S. combat units to engage in offensive ground operations in the ETO (European Theater of Operations) during World War II. The 9th saw its first combat on 8 November 1942, when its elements landed at Algiers, Safi, and Port Lyautey. The taking of Safi by the 3rd Battalion of the 47th Infantry Regiment marks the first liberation of a city from Axis control in World War II. . . .[The Division carried out small operations in Tunisia; later launched an attack in Southern Tunisia, driving onward to Bizerte; and was heavily involved in the invasion of Sicily.]
They returned to England for more training and landed on Utah Beach 10th June 1944, 4 days after the D-Day Invasion, also referred to as D plus 4. In a move designed to cut through the German defense and split their forces the 9th cut off the Cotentin Peninsula and then marched to the port of Cherbourg. Turning around the Division helped close the Falaise Gap in August. By the 28th they had turned east and crossed the Marne River and moved through Saarlautern. Beginning in November and concluding in January they held a number of defensive positions.
At the end of January they drove across the Roer to the Rhine River, crossing it at Remagen on 7 March 1945. They then helped with the sealing and clearing of the Rhur Pocket as well as engaging in the Harz Mountains. The 9th Infantry Division was at the Mulde River, near Dessau when VE-Day arrived. ("9th Infantry Division," Combat Reels, accessed 24 June 2022, http://www.combatreels.com/9th_infantry_division.cfm.)
It appears that Sgt. John Robert Roberts was killed in action during operations in the Rhineland, as the date of his death is listed as February 3, 1945. According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History website, the 9th was in Kalterherberg on January 28 and in Hofen on February 4, 1945. ("Order of Battle of the US Army - WWII - ETO: 9th Infantry Division," accessed 24 June 2022, https://history.army.mil/documents/eto-ob/9ID-ETO.htm.) He would have been with the Division as it crossed the Roer, but he would no longer have been with his comrades in arms when they crossed the Rhine at Remagen. His remains were returned to the States in 1949, and he was buried in Cunningham Memorial Park in St. Albans on August 18. However, a military marker for his grave was not installed until 1966.
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure
June 2022
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
