John Clarke Roberts III Captain U.S. Navy Ret'd.

JOHN CLARKE ROBERTS, III, Captain, U.S. Navy, Retired, formerly of Alexandria, Virginia and Longview, Texas died peacefully at his home in Austin on June 10, 2007. John was born September 14, 1917 in Crowell (Foard County), Texas, to John Clarke Roberts, Jr. and Nellie Armstrong Roberts. Among the original settlers in North Texas, the Roberts family came by wagon from North Carolina to Montague County in 1858 and moved to Foard and Hardeman Counties in 1885. John’s grandfather, John C. Roberts, was the first county judge of both counties and served as state representative for most of the Texas Panhandle in 1903-1906. On his mother’s side the Armstrong and Fisher families were pioneers in the Gladewater area of Gregg County in 1848. John attended elementary schools in Dallas and Fort Worth and went to high school in Gladewater, Texas where he was captain of the Gladewater H.S. football team. During his first year of college at Schreiner Military Institute in Kerrville, Texas, he was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa honor fraternity. At the University of Texas from 1936-1939, he was president of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, member of the U.T. Texas Cowboys service organization, an elected officer of the Student Assembly, and chairman of the Judiciary Council. After graduation in 1939, John attended U.T. Law School until World War II interrupted his third year. He volunteered for officer training and, in May 1942, graduated as an ensign from the U.S. Naval Midshipmen School at Northwestern University in Chicago. On May 15, 1942, John married his college sweetheart, Connie Wilson, of Austin, at the First United Methodist Church in Austin. Early in the war, Ensign (and later Lieutenant) Roberts served as a gunnery officer on the battleship USS New Mexico during the Aleutian and Midway naval campaigns. By 1943, Lt. Roberts was chief gunnery officer for 5-inch and 40-mm guns on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington when it was torpedoed and almost sunk in November 1943 near Tarawa. He transferred to the battleship USS Wisconsin, where he was one of the chief gunnery officers. In July 1945, the USS Wisconsin raided deep into the Japanese home islands. In the last days of the war, John volunteered to serve on the Naval Landing Force that seized Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo. As commander of a naval infantry company that helped secure the base, Lt. Roberts was among the very first U.S. forces to set foot in Japan. After V-J Day, he returned to the University of Texas to finish his last semester in law school. In early 1946, John returned to active duty in the navy to begin a career as a specialist in naval and international law. After promotion to the rank of Commander, John served as senior legal advisor at the Naval Weapons Station in China Lake, California and later as naval judge advocate for the Headquarters of the 17th Naval District and Alaska Sea Frontier in Kodiak, Alaska, followed by three years as professor of international law at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Later, as one of the youngest officers of his rank in the Navy, Capt. Roberts served as chief legal advisor for the Office of Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon, where he prepared legal opinions that influenced the decision to blockade Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After attending the Naval War College, he completed a master’s degree in international relations at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. From 1961 until his retirement in 1964, Capt. Roberts served as Assistant Judge Advocate General of the Navy. He was a member of the American Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar. After retirement from active duty in 1964, he practiced private law for several years in the Washington, D.C. area before finally retiring in Texas. After retirement, John and Connie enjoyed traveling and had many adventures in their exploration of Europe, where they made many friends, some of whom visited them in Texas. John particularly enjoyed studying history and visiting with family and friends. We will miss him. John is survived by his wife of over 65 years, Connie Wilson Roberts, a native of Austin, Texas, four children: John Clarke Roberts IV, wife Betty; Brian Wilson Roberts, wife Maria; Susan Roberts Sullivan; and Kathryn Nell Roberts. Five grandchildren: Court Sullivan, Carla Roberts, Stephen Mosty Roberts, Alexander Roberts, Meredith Sullivan. The family will receive friends on Friday, June 15 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home in Austin. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 16, followed by burial at Austin Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Northwest Hills United Methodist Church in Austin. Obituary and guestbook online at wcfish.com