Major Larry C. Roberts United States Marine Corps

Larry Crandall Roberts died at the Clyde Lassen Veteran's Nursing Home in St. Augustine, Florida on May 22, 2025.

Larry Crandall Roberts was born on May 12, 1939, in the community of Sanborn, ten miles west of Sopchoppy, Florida. As a boy, he was able to watch airplanes from Dale Mabry Field engage in bombing practice at the nearby Sopchoppy Bombing Range as the pilots trained for World War II.

His family later moved to Tallahassee, where he was a two-way starter on the Leon Lions football team. He graduated from Leon in 1957 and later he was inducted into the Leon Football Hall of Fame.

After high school he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. As an enlisted man, he achieved the rank of Corporal and was the commander of an M-48 Tank.

After attending flight school, he was designated a Naval Aviator and commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.

In two tours in Vietnam, he completed 327 combat missions, flying the A-4 Skyhawk attack jet, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses, twenty-one Air Medals, and the Purple Heart. Between tours in Vietnam, he served as a Flight Instructor and Landing Signal Officer in Pensacola, Florida teaching Naval Aviator candidates to land on aircraft carriers.

In 1976-77, he served as the Commanding Officer of Marine Air Base Squadron 15, in Iwakuni, Japan.

After he retired from the Marine Corps, Larry continued to fly as a commercial pilot at the Tallahassee airport. In his flying career, he accrued more than four thousand flight hours. After retiring from flying, he moved back to the land he was born on in Wakulla County.

Larry was preceded in death by his father Malcolm Eugene Roberts, mother Alma Doris McKenzie, his brother Eugene Norwood Roberts and his sister Mary JoAnn Hadland. He is survived by his sons Laurence Clayton Roberts (Trelles D'Alemberte), Wesley Andrew Roberts (Lori) and his grandsons Jacob Malcolm Roberts, Jackson Whitfield Roberts and Wilson D'Alemberte Roberts.

Funeral Services will be held on Friday, May 30, 2025 at the Tallahassee National Cemetery beginning at 10:00 AM Eastern Time.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you consider a donation in memory of Larry, to Community Hospice of Jacksonville, 4266 Sunbeam Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32257.

McAlpin Funeral Home in Sneads, Florida is handling the arrangements.