SSG Clarence Edward Roberson

courtesy of Darrell Landrum

SSG Clarence Edward Roberson was born 26 Oct 1920 in Campbell County, Virginia. He was the eldest of the 12 children born to William Kyle and Mary Joanna (Lerner) Roberson. His father was working as a cutter in a local shoe factory owned by the Craddock Tevay Shoe Corporation. His father reported a 1939 income of $900 to support the family while paying $5 monthly rent for a home on Patterson Mill Road outside Brookville, Virginia. That same year Clarence made $420 working in a shirt factory.

As with many members of the National Guard at the time, Clarence enlisted in a National Guard unit in Lynchburg, Virginia for the $1 a day pay (approximately $66 a year) and was a member of B Company 116th Infantry. PVT Roberson was mobilized with the unit in February 1941 and departed for training at Fort Meade, Maryland. He then trained with the unit in the "Carolina Maneuvers" and at Camp Blanding, Florida before shipping out for England aboard the Queen Mary in September 1942. Once in England the Regiment trained for the amphibious operation that was intended to be part of the invasion of occupied Europe. SGT Roberson was promoted to SSG on 5 Jun 1944. He was killed in action in the amphibious assault on the beach code-named Omaha at Vierville-sur-mer on 6 Jun 1944.

SSG Roberson was repatriated 1949 and re-interred in Fort Hill Memorial Park (formerly Fort Hill Burial Park) in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Clarence's brothers also served during WW2. William Kyle Roberson Jr served as a COX in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Casa Grande in the Pacific Theater. Thomas Preston Robertson served as an F2c aboard the USS Sylvania, also in the Pacific Theater. Howard Raymond Roberson served in the U.S. Army 1948-1952.