Westminster's Edmund O. Nelson was killed in France by a German sniper
WESTMINSTER – For about 11 weeks, 22-year-old Geraldine (Comforti) Nelson enjoyed a perfect life.
In March of 1943, she traveled from her home in the Oakdale section of West Boylston to Blackstone, Virginia to marry her fiancé, 24-year-old Private Edmund O. Nelson, who was stationed there at Camp Pickett.
The Rev. F. C. Hawkins, minister of the Baptist Church of Blackstone, performed the ceremony, held on March 9, 1943.
There was little time for a honeymoon and the couple would reside in Blackstone for the next couple of months before Nelson was called to duty on May 24.
Sadly, it would the last Geraldine would see of her husband, as he was whisked off to the Mediterranean Sea and the war zone along the North African coastline. Then, a year and a half later, he would lose his life to a German sniper’s bullet.
Mark Landry, the veteran’s graves officer as well as a member of the town’s veteran’s committee for the Westminster Historical Society, provided a good deal of information to help complete this column, as well as each on soldiers from Westminster.
This is the continuation of the series Remembering Local World War II Heroes.
Staff Sgt. Edmund O. Nelson (1918-1944)
Edmund Ola Nelson was born in Westminster on Sept. 27, 1918 to Jesse G. and Edith M. (Smith) Nelson, in a rented house at 235 South Ashburnham Road. He also had a younger sister, Avis I. Nelson,
His father Jesse worked in a paper mill at the time of Edmund’s birth, but the family later moved to a house near the Gardner State Colony where Jesse would work as a caretaker.
While living on Bragg Hill Road in Westminster, Edmund attended Fitchburg High School from which he graduated in 1938. Following his graduation, Edmund worked at the Crocker Burbank Paper Mill in Fitchburg, which also employed his father and sister.
Shortly after the U.S. involvement in World War II following the bombing at Pearl Harbor, Edmund enlisted in the service on Jan. 19, 1942 in Boston. He reported to Fort Devens and was assigned to Company D, 38th Infantry Regiment Training Battalion, Platoon 4.
Private Nelson was then sent to Camp Croft in South Carolina for six weeks of basic training, after which he came back to Fort Devens on April 20. He was then assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Thunderbird Division.
His regiment was stationed at Camp Edwards on Cape Cod for several weeks before the division boarded rail cars relocating them to Camp Pickett near Blackstone, Virginia in January 1943.
A marriage in Virginia
It was during his stay at Camp Pickett that Edmund married Geraldine A. Comforti on March 9, 1943 in Blackstone. When Edmund and his battalion left two months later for North Africa, Geraldine moved back to Oakdale.
In late May, Edmund’s first battalion boarded the USS Harry Lee, a class attack transport that saw service with the U.S. Navy during World War II. It joined a huge convoy that zigzagged its way south, over the equator, along South America, and entered the Mediterranean Sea, before heading to the North African coastline.
Battalion travels the Mediterranean
Over the next year and a half, Sgt. Nelson and his men would see action in many of the war zones. They would traverse the Mediterranean Sea with stops at Sicily, the Anzio Beachhead, Southern France, Normandy, and wherever needed to combat the German enemy.
An item in the April 20, 1944 edition of the Fitchburg Sentinel noted that Sgt. Nelson had been wounded in action somewhere in Italy. There were no other details to the extent of his injuries.
More: Lt. Waino Friberg was shot down off the coast of Naples, Italy
Returning to duty
Apparently, he was not put out of commission for very long. By late August, Nelson and the 1st and 3rd Battalions arrived in Grenoble, France to help set up roadblocks as a way to prevent the Germans from moving forward.
At just before midnight on Aug. 23, 1944, First Battalion guards on one of the road blocks observed gun flashes in the vicinity of Domene.
Sgt. Nelson was in the midst of one of those roadblocks on the main highway into Grenoble. As several Germans soldiers attempted to break through the lines and move into the town a firefight ensued. A series of bullets flew, striking Sgt. Nelson, who fell dead on the spot.
More: Staff Sgt. Edwin Darling was one of eight WWII casualties from Westminster
William Warren, who was part of the First Battalion, would later report that Edmund was wounded at about one o'clock in the morning. He was with two other soldiers who placed him into an ambulance, while the German who did the shooting was killed by the men.
However, another account from Edward A. Krecht, noted that Edmund was killed almost instantly as six bullets had entered his body.
News from the front initially stated that Sgt. Nelson was missing an action, but shortly thereafter the confirmation of his death was reported by the army.
Staff Sgt. Nelson was killed on Oct. 24, 1944, at the age of 26, and is buried in the Rhone American Cemetery and Memorial, in Draguignan, France.
Square honors sacrifice of Staff Sgt. Nelson
The square in Westminster at the junction of Oakmont Avenue and South Ashburnham Road is named in honor of Staff Sgt. Edmund O. Nelson.
A heartbroken Geraldine Nelson never remarried. She became a registered nurse working in several Worcester area hospitals, eventually retiring from Worcester County Hospital in 1983.
Two years later, she died at the age of 64 following a lengthy illness. She left two brothers, four sisters and several nieces and nephews, as well as an empty place in her heart from a love lost at war so many years earlier.
Comments and suggestions for Remembering Local World War II Heroes can be sent to Mike Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com or in writing to Mike Richard, 92 Boardley Road, Sandwich, MA 02563.
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Edmund Nelson of Westminster killed in Domene, France by German sniper
