Paul Leo Roberts was born on 16 Jan 1926 in Pennsylvania. His parents were George W. (1888-1963) and Rachel (1888-1986), He was born in Indiana and she in Pennsylvania. His father was a veteran of WW1 and worked as a coal miner and painter. Paul had two older brothers, Lawrence and Francis and a younger brother, Wayne and had an older sister Ethel.

The 1930 Census indicates Paul’s father as a Coal miner and his brother Francis, as a Rivet heater in a car shop. The eldest brother Lawrence had already gone out on his own by then. The family lived at 88b Pole Hollow Rd in West Taylor township, Pennsylvania.

By 1940 the family lived at 120 Tanneryville Rd, Paul’s father is listed as a Painter. Only Ethel, Paul and his younger brother Wayne were still living with their parents.

He enlisted May 25, 1943 in Altoona in the US Navy.

Seaman 1st Class Roberts was assigned to (Landing Craft Flak) LCF-31 whose mission was to provide anti-aircraft support to those making landing on Omaha Beach. The weeks leading up to the operation provided training for the many types of landing craft on the skills and tasks they would need to conduct the attack on the French beaches with practice exercise being conducted on the English coast. On that fateful morning there were many landing craft ships in the area, but LCF-31 was taken out of commission early in the battle and sank. Some reports indicate they hit a mine or were hit by fire from the shore battery of artillery.

From the recollections of Master Machinist two Larry Lampton, one of the few survivors from LCF-31, an article relays the fate of the landing craft—"The surviving crew of the LCF-31 had been picked up by a Coast Guard Cutter, CGC-16. Out of a crew of 72, only 18 survived. An excerpt from the cutter’s log describes its D-Day activities:

“0530, accompanied invasion barges into shore under severe shelling attacks and with mines going up all around us. 0730, LCF-31 hit by shell 800 yards off shore, sinking immediately. While engaged in picking up survivors, a shell struck PC-1261, which disintegrated, scattering men and debris over a wide area. While so engaged, shells and bullets were falling nearby, and just after last man picked up, small landing craft only few hundred yards off shore blew up. Proceeded to spot and picked up all living survivors.” (CGC-16 Log.)”***

Seaman First Class Roberts was not among the survivors pulled from the ship as it sank. His memorial is at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial on the Tablets of the Missing.

Paul Leo Roberts gave his life in the service to our nation. His sacrifice will never be forgotten.

The honor states website incorrectly indicates he enlisted and was from New York, All records associated with the service number, individual and family indicate he was from Pennsylvania. The only record found tying the family to New York is a US Navy Casualties’ Book.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

REFERENCES:

Ancestry.com-1930 Census

Ancestry.com-1940 Census

Ancestry.com-Pennsylvania Compensation Records

Ancestry.com-George W. Roberts

S1 Paul L Roberts (unknown-1944) - Find A Grave Memorial

Paul Leo Roberts : Enlisted from New York, World War II Casualty (honorstates.org)

Sunk and Damaged Ships and Craft (navy.mil)

80-G-45720: Normandy Invasion, U.S. Navy Ships, June 1944.

***Lucky Larry Lampton, 75 years after D-Day | Features | Northern Express

The Ship Model Forum • View topic - Calling All LCF Fans (shipmodels.info)

US NAVY casualties - killed and died, RAAFLAUB to RZEMPOLUCH, World War 2 (naval-history.net)