DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it — and I'll do my best to honor what it says — this is the story of Charles Howard Roan. Born August 16, 1923, right there in Claude, Armstrong County, Texas. He wouldn't see his twenty-second birthday.
But what he did with the time he had — well, that's why we're stoppin' here. In December 1942, Charles H. Roan volunteered for the United States Marine Corps.
Volunteered. Nobody dragged him in. He stepped up, and before long he was on active duty in the Pacific, which in the early 1940s was about as far from the Texas Panhandle as a man could get — and about as dangerous a place as this earth has ever offered.
He ended up on Peleliu Island. And on September 18, 1944, in the middle of battle, a Japanese grenade landed among his fellow Marines. Charles Roan threw himself on it.
Absorbed the blast. Gave four men the chance to keep on living, by giving up his own. For that act — one decision, one fraction of a second — he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Now here's the part that'll catch in your throat if you let it. That medal had to go somewhere, because Charles wasn't coming home. It was presented to his mother, Lillabel Roan, the Armstrong County Treasurer, in ceremonies at the courthouse — right here in Claude — in July 1945.
Can you imagine standing in that room? Accepting that medal on behalf of your son? The story doesn't end there.
In 1946, the United States Navy commissioned a destroyer and christened her the USS Charles H. Roan, DD-853. A warship bearing the name of a Claude boy who made the oldest, hardest choice a soldier ever faces.
Some names deserve to be carried forward. This one got a warship.
What the marker says
(August 16, 1923 - September 18, 1944) Claude native Charles H. Roan volunteered for World War II service in the U.S. Marine Corps in December 1942. On active duty in the Pacific, he was killed in battle on Peleliu Island when he threw himself on a Japanese grenade, thereby saving the lives of four fellow Marines. For his heroic action he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The medal was presented to his mother, Armstrong County Treasurer Lillabel Roan, in ceremonies here at the courthouse in July 1945. A U.S. Navy destroyer built in 1946 was christened the USS Charles H. Roan DD-853. (1994)