FLOWERY BRANCH – The first item on Thursday’s agenda before the Flowery Branch City Council was a resolution dedicating the council’s main meeting room to the memory of one of the city’s fallen military heroes.
“The old council chambers in our old city hall…before we moved over here was actually dedicated and so we want to dedicate this council chambers to Machinist’s Mate Second Class Ennis Lee Roberts,” Mayor Mike Miller explained.
Several of Roberts’s family attended the re-dedication ceremony including his great nephew and niece.
“Ennis Lee Roberts was the first man from Hall County in World War II that was killed,” Miller said, reading from the official declaration. “Therefore, be it resolved, the City Council of the City of Flowery Branch, recognizes and remembers November 4th as Ennis Lee Roberts Day in the City of Flowery Branch.”
Roberts served in the United States Coast Guard from 1935 until his death while on the USCGC Alexander Hamilton. He was declared a casualty of war on January 29, 1942.
According to family members, Roberts’ twin brother Aubrey enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps following his brother’s death, serving in the Pacific Theater, including the famous battle at Iwo Jima.
A plaque bearing Ennis Roberts’ likeness now hangs on the wall of the city council chambers.
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