Charles H. Roan

The Texas State Veterans Home in Amarillo, opened in 2007, bears the name of Charles H. Roan.

On July 21, 1945, in a simple presentation ceremony on the Armstrong County Courthouse lawn, Mrs. Lillabel Roan, of Claude, Texas, accepted the Medal of Honor posthumously awarded her son, Pfc. Charles Howard Roan, USMCR.

Memorial services for PFC Roan took place in the Methodist Church in Claude on April 8, 1945.

The youth enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in December 1942. A rifleman in the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, he was already a veteran of bitter fighting when he threw himself upon a Japanese hand grenade in the Peleliu landing, saving four Marines in his unit at the cost of his own life on September 18, 1944. Prior to his death, he had been in two previous battles – New Guinea and Cape Gloucester — and had seen 15 months of overseas duty. In addition to the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart, he also held the Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal with three battle stars.

For his actions at Peleliu in 1944 the Medal of Honor was awarded to Roan with the following citation:

Private First Class Charles Howard Roan (August 16, 1923 – September 18, 1944) was a United States Marine who sacrificed his life to save those of four fellow Marines in the landing on Peleliu during World War II. For his heroism, he posthumously received his nation's highest military honor – the Medal of Honor.

Charles Howard Roan was born August 16, 1923, in Claude, Texas. Until he performed his act of sacrifice, his life had been that of any small town American boy. Charles attended the local high school and worked in a local garage.