Remembering World War II Heroes: Bernard Clark, Paul Gobell of Hubbardston

HUBBARDSTON – There is no time where a soldier would feel more alone and desolate than during the first Christmas season away from family and loved ones.

As Christmas Day 1944 approached, World War II was in the midst of the Battle of the Bulge. Also known as the Ardennes Offensive, it was a major German offensive campaign on the Western Front which took place from Dec. 16, 1944 to Jan. 25, 1945.

On Dec. 17, the German war crime known as the Malmedy massacre took place on the crossroads near the city of Malmedy, Belgium.

German Soldiers of Kampfgruppe Peiper killed 84 U.S. Army prisoners of war who surrendered after a brief battle. Germans grouped the U.S. POWs in a farmer's field, where they used machine guns to shoot and kill them. Those prisoners of war who survived the gunfire of the massacre were then inhumanely killed with a gun-shot to the head.

Fortunately, there were a number of U.S. soldiers who were able to escape and were holed up in the Hotel Nicolet in Malmedy. Safely there, plans were being made by the men to hold their own holiday celebration. They reportedly found some Christmas carol books and a volume of Charles Dickens’ Christmas stories to add to the festivities.

Many of them gathered the food sent them from home in their holiday packages.

Tech 5 Bernard Clark of Hubbardston had been working as a cook and was in the hotel kitchen helping to prepare a festive holiday meal for his fellow American soldiers.

However, Clark and his fellow soldiers were not prepared for the atrocity that awaited them with a tragic loss of life incurred by their own soldiers in a friendly fire episode.

This is the continuation of the series Remembering Local World War II Heroes.

Tech 5 Bernard W. Clark (1920-1944) 

Bernard Wentworth Clark was born in Hubbardston on May 8, 1920, the son of Alton W. and Mabel Rutherford (Coffin) Clark.

As a youngster, he was a member of the Hubbardston Boy Scout Troop 12 headed by his father. He graduated from Athol High School in 1939 and was employed by Wheeler’s Store in Hubbardston. Before reporting for active duty in the U.S. Army in January 1941, he was a member of Co. M, 181st Infantry, National Guard of Gardner.

He married the former Annette Ward Rideout of Ashburnham on Feb. 14, 1942 and they were the parents of one son, Roger.

After joining the Army, he trained at Camp Edwards, Hingham and Camp Atterbury, Indiana. He went overseas in February of 1944, serving with the 30th Division of the 1st Army under Gen. Courtney Hicks Hodges in Normandy, and later with the 9th Army in Belgium.

On Christmas Day 1944, at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon, Clark and his fellow U.S. soldiers were preparing for their holiday feast at the Hotel Nicolet. Suddenly, three successive waves of Allied bombers, returning from missions, dropped some of their bombs on Malmedy. The bombers were not aware that they were attacking their own men.

Almost the entire center of the town was reduced to rubble by the bombing. A handful of soldiers were able to escape, while many of the others were consumed by the raging fires.

A total of 69 of the men from the 120th Infantry Regiment were killed, while 43 bodies were recovered. Unfortunately, Clark was among the soldiers who were unaccounted for and, due to the fire, his dog tags were not even found.

Back in Hubbardston in January of 1945, Annette Clark received a telegram from the War Department informing her that her 24-year-old husband had been missing in action in Germany since Christmas day of 1944.

Four excruciating months later on May 4, Mrs. Clark was informed by telegram from the War Department that Cpl. Clark had been killed in the attack.

Besides his wife, son and his parents, Clark left four other siblings who were in the service at the time. Brothers Tech Sgt. Irving Clark in the Philippines, Seaman 2nd Class Gordon in the U.S. Navy and Radar Man 1st Class Norman in U.S. Navy, as well as a sister, Pvt. Audrey Clark, WAC, in Des Moines, Iowa.

He also left two brothers Harold and Raymond at home and a sister Marilyn who was a junior at Athol High School.

He is listed on the memorial at Ardennes American Cemetery in Liège, Belgium.

Quartermaster Paul E. Gobeil (1924-1945) 

Paul E. Gobeil was born in Gardner on July 26, 1924 to Emery J. and Adelaide E. (Taylor) Gobeil. His parents would split up when he was a small boy and he came to Hubbardston to make his home with his maternal grandparents Henry A. and Amelia Taylor of 23 Depot Road. When he was 13, his grandfather died.

Gobiel graduated from Athol High School in 1942 and enlisted in the Merchant Marines in November of that year. His time in the service would take him to North Africa, Italy and England.

He moved to Worcester and lived at 8 Orient St. In September of 1944, he took ill but upon his recovery he had planned to return to duty sometime after the first of the year. However, he was stricken ill once again and on Feb. 23, 1945, Quartermaster Merchant Seaman Gobeil died at the age of 20 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester.

He was survived by his father Emery, who at the time lived in New York, his mother who lived in Worcester and a sister Helen Frye.

Gobiel was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Hubbardston.

Comments and suggestions for Remembering Local World War II Heroes can be sent to Mike Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com or in writing Mike Richard, 92 Boardley Rd. Sandwich, MA 02563. 

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Bernard Clark, Paul Gobell of Hubbardston MA died in WWII