Few of his West Virginia patients knew that Dr. Roberts had enlisted before World War II in time to inoculate thousands of soldiers on their way to fight Hitler. He trained at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and sailed from Newport News, Virginia to land at Safi, Morocco in November 1942. He moved the 47th Regimental Aid Station through North Africa with the Ninth Division of the Third Army. After his regiment met Rommel at El Guettar, Algeria, they sailed on to Sicily where the battle with Mussolini was underway. England was the next port of call along the way to Normandy. In France and Belgium the 47th regiment took heavy losses, but they were among the first into Germany. They were appalled at the conditions in the prison camps. Roberts recorded the suffering of prisoners at Dachou. For me the Aid Station is the truth center in combat. Here the wounded, the dying, and the dead are brought. The wounded say how they got it or what got them. The dying have their last say, and, for the observant, the dead may speak even more eloquently than the living. The Aid Station is a wonderful place to hear rumors. The aid men and litter bearers report in from the rifle companies where the action is. The ambulances report in from collecting the clearing companies with news of what is going on back where the generals are groping in their fog.

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