Thomas Edison Roberts was born in Nordhoff, California, May 11th, 1897. He moved to Reno, Nevada, while a young child and was raised and educated there. In the winter of 1915 he went to Los Angeles, California, to visit his sister, and while there enlisted in the United States Navy (January 16th, 1916). The young seaman was serving on board the U. S. S. Pittsburgh in South American waters when the influenza epidemic broke out. The plague swept the city of Rio de Janiero, Brazil, taking its toll of 40,000 lives, and spread to our man-o’-war, then in the harbor.

Fifty-eight of our boys aboard the “Pittsburgh” lost their lives in the epidemic, and among them was Thomas Roberts. He passed away on the 28th of October, 1918. The remains of the brave Nevada boy were returned to Reno and buried there with military honors. A detachment of troops from the University of Nevada Training Camp acred as escort, and pall-bearers were drawn from the ranks of the Spanish-American War Veterans. A host of Tommy’s friends paid homage to his memory. Those surviving him are his mother, Mrs. Grace Daudel, 129 Cheney Street, Reno, Nevada; his father, P. N. Roberts, of Oxnard, California: his sister, Mrs. Gladys Burgele, of Fort George, Washington; and his brother, Earl P. Roberts, also of the United States Navy.