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| Private Vivian Roberts of the Macon-based Company F, 2nd Georgia Infantry Regiment circa 1907. Photo courtesy of Ms. Tonie Maxwell |
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard
The United States observes National Prisoner of War / Missing in Action Recognition Day on the third Friday in September. This day allows provides a moment of pause to remember those who have been held as prisoners of war during our nation’s conflicts and those listed as missing in action. In December 1918, the only Georgia Guardsmen held as a POW during World War I began his long journey home to Macon.
Prelude
Vivian Hill Roberts Sr. was born September 29, 1887, in
Jackson Ga. He enlisted in the Macon Hussars, then Company F of the 2nd Georgia
Infantry Regiment as a private July 26, 1906. Roberts served in every enlisted
rank, culminating in a stint as first sergeant of Company F before accepting a
commission as a second lieutenant March 1, 1915. He was working as a bookkeeper
for Benson Clothing Company in Macon when the Georgia National Guard was deployed to the
Mexican Border in August 1916. Returning with his regiment in 1917, Roberts
company was redesignated Company A, 151st Machine Gun Battalion and assigned to
the 42nd Division which sailed to France in October 1917.
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| First Sgt. Vivian Roberts with other Soldiers of the Macon-based Company F, 2nd Georgia Infantry circa 1914. Photo courtesy of Ms. Tonie Maxwell |
As a platoon leader, Roberts led his machine gun sections
from the Baccarat Sector near the southern terminus of the Western Front
through the fiery Champagne Marne Defensive. He was promoted to first
lieutenant May 15, 1918.
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| Vivian Roberts served as a platoon leader in Company A, 151st Machine Gun Battalion which mobilized for France in October 1917. Georgia Guard Archives |
On July 28, 1918, Roberts’ Company was heavily engaged while
supporting infantry assaults on German positions near Sergy France. The Soldiers of
the 151st MGB were ordered to move forward in support of the infantry regiments of the
84th Brigade, 42nd Division. As the machine gunners were already overly
burdened with heavy machine guns and ammunition, Roberts ordered the men to
remove unnecessary gear – including packs and canteens. In the assault, the men
would only carry ammunition and gas masks.
Capture
Roberts recalled moving forward with four machine guns and
establishing firing positions for his sections. Unable to proceed due to the
presence of enemy machine guns positioned near the crest of the hill upon which
he was advancing, Roberts requested infantry support which came in the form of
a company from the Alabama National Guard's 167th Infantry Regiment under command of Capt. Wyatt. Roberts recalls what
happened next.
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| Hill 212 near Sergy France where Roberts was wounded and captured July 28, 1918. Photo by Maj. William Carraway |
“As we reached the crest of the hill, instead of the five or
six Germans I had been firing upon, a solid line of Germans arose stretching
all across the hill. Machine guns opened up on us from the woods on the right
and from the church steeple and buildings from the little village of La Ferte
on our left, pouring a terrific fire into our ranks. Hearing a groan at my side
I turned and saw little F. H. Dent from Macon, his shirt on fire; a bullet had
struck a clip of cartridges in his belt, exploding them, setting his shirt on
fire as well as badly wounding him. I put the fire out, gave him first aid, and
sent him to the rear took his rifle… A German plane swooped down over our
line strafing, mowing down it seemed about every sixth man in our line. A
bullet struck me in my right thigh breaking the bone and passing on through the
leg and lodging in the lower leg… I asked two infantrymen to carry me back.
They tried to do it but as my right leg was dangling giving me so much pain and
bullets were singing all around us, I asked them to put me in a shell hole and
make their escape.”
Roberts was found by German Soldiers. One gave him a blanket
and told Roberts that they would come back for him that evening. When they
returned it was only to leave Roberts once more with the knowledge that the
Germans anticipated an American attack to come in the morning. Roberts remained
in the shell hole for 30 hours without food or water and with three exposed
wounds before a German non-commissioned officer and three Red Cross men found
him and bore him into German lines in a shelter half. His wounds were dressed,
and he was taken via stretcher to a horse-drawn ambulance while American
artillery shells crashed all around. Roberts grimly recalled the ambulance
ride.
“As my leg had not been put into a splint you can imagine the
condition I was in after about a two hours’ ride. We arrived at what I took to
be Fismes; here we were taken to a German Field Hospital. And my leg was set
and put in a splint. As the hospital was being evacuated that night due to the
advance of the Americans, I was soon put into an automobile ambulance with
three wounded Germans We travelled all night arriving early in the morning at
what I took to be Laon.”
In Laon, Roberts along with wounded
French and German Soldiers were loaded onto freight rail cars on pallets of
blood-soaked straw and blankets for transport to Formies, France near the
Belgian border. Here he was asked by an English-speaking nurse when his wound
had last been dressed. As jarring as this was, Roberts soon discovered that he
was one of 800 wounded Soldiers being treated at the hospital by one doctor and
two nurses.
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| Vivian Roberts recuperates at Walter Reed Hospital circa 1920. Photo courtesy of Ms. Tonie Maxwell |
On August 25, 1918, the U.S. Army reported Roberts missing in action.
Roberts’ family endured weeks of uncertainty until September 13, when newspapers
reported that the 151st Machine Gun Battalion had listed Roberts as killed in action. It was not
until November 1 that Roberts’ family learned that he was indeed alive
and being held in a prison at Langensalza Thuringen, Germany.
Roberts' Return
Roberts would remain at Langensalza until December 21, 1918, when he began his journey home. Arriving at American Base Hospital Number 45
December 24, 1918, Roberts realized his earnest wish to be free by Christmas.
He did not return to the United States until February 25, 1919.
Roberts would
remain hospitalized due to the effects of his wound until December 22, 1922, when he was released from federal service. While still a patient at Walter Reed
Army Hospital, Roberts married Antoinette Lipgens. For more than 20 years
Roberts served as the Clerk of Bibb County Superior Court in Macon. He died August 24, 1946, at the age of 57 and rests in Riverside
Cemetery, Macon, Ga.
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| Vivian Roberts in his American Legion uniform. After the war, Roberts served as the Clerk of Bibb County Superior Court. Photo courtesy of Ms. Tonie Maxwell |
