Col. Edward Reese Roberts was born in Avon, Illinois on October 7, 1892 to Homer Lawson Roberts and Josephine Stevens Roberts. His family moved to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where in 1907 his father became professor of Biology at the Missouri State Normal School Third District (now Southeast Missouri State University). He attended classes there from 1907-1911 and also summer school in 1913 and 1914. Receiving scholarships from the Harvard Clubs of St. Louis and Kansas City Roberts matriculated at Harvard College, which he attended from 1911-1913 and again from 1914-1916. He received undergraduate degrees from Missouri State Normal School and Harvard College in 1916. Roberts was employed as a high school principal in Festus, Missouri for the 1913-1914 school year.

After graduating from Harvard College, where he distinguished himself as a scholar and competitive field athlete (javelin, shot put, 56-pound weight throw, hammer throw, discus), he attended Harvard Law School but left after a year to join the U.S. Army during World War I. Roberts enlisted in the Army in 1917 and entered Officers’ Training Camp at Fort Riley, Kansas in May of that year. In August 2017 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and assigned to the 79th Field Artillery, attached to the 7th Division. The 7th Division was part of the American Expeditionary Forces, and after being promoted to First Lieutenant in July 1918 Roberts sailed to France in August 1918, where he participated in combat several times, receiving heavy artillery shelling and gas attacks near St. Mihiel.

He returned to the United States in June 1919, having seen 33 days of front-line service in France. He found he very much enjoyed the military life and decided to make his career as an officer in the United States Army. In September 1919 Roberts was assigned to the Field Artillery Central Officers’ Training School at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky. In 1920 he was a member of the United States Olympic team in Antwerp, Belgium, participating in the Men’s 56-pound weight throw, where he finished seventh in the competition.

A year later in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 15, 1921, he married Ruby March of Bloomfield, Missouri, who had also attended the Missouri State Normal School Third District, graduating in 1911. She worked at the Library there during Roberts’ time as a student. After teaching in her hometown of Bloomfield for several years, she returned to Cape Girardeau and was employed as an assistant librarian at the Missouri State Normal School library from 1916-1920. They had two daughters: Dorothy, born in 1925, and Margery, born in 1927.

Following the marriage Roberts was posted to the army base at Fort Myer, Virginia from 1921-1926. By 1924 Roberts had been promoted to Captain and was an occasional guest at the White House. During this time between the World Wars Roberts and his family were posted in various other locations throughout the United States and the Philippines, and they also spent time in Japan and China. He also served as a Regular Army Instructor to the 119th Field Artillery Michigan National Guard from 1935-1940.

Shortly after the United States entered World War II Roberts received the rank of Colonel in December 1941 and served as Provost Marshal at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. While there, in April 1942, he was named Commander of the 196th Field Artillery Regiment and Group at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Roberts subsequently moved his men to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and then to Camp Gordon, Georgia for intensive war preparation. Roberts commanded the 196th in training and combat from May 1942 to September 1945. In February 1944 the 196th shipped to England and later crossed the English Channel, landing on Utah Beach, Normandy on July 18, 1944, six weeks after the D-Day invasion. The 196th Field Artillery was attached to several army groups during the fighting in Europe, including the First, Third, Seventh and Ninth Armies. During his time in the Western European theater Col. Roberts received numerous commendations, among them the Purple Heart for sustaining battle wounds and the Bronze Star for valor.

After the war Col. Roberts spent a year in Germany as part of the occupation Army. Upon his return to the United States he was posted in Lansing, Michigan as Senior Army Instructor with the Michigan National Guard in November 1946. Roberts retired from the Army in 1952 after 35 years of military service. He died at the Veterans Hospital in Poplar Bluff, Missouri on August 14, 1956 at the age of 63. His wife Ruby remained in their family home in Cape Girardeau, Missouri until her death in 1985 at Southeast Missouri Hospital. Both Col. and Mrs. Roberts are interred at Arlington National Cemetery.