Remembering World War II Heroes: Telegram brought tragic news to Hubbardston family

HUBBARDSTON – When Robert “Benny” Meagher was a teenager in the 1940s growing up in Hubbardston, a town of about 1,000 people, when you saw a taxicab in town you knew it meant bad news.

“Everybody got a telegram and the telegram office would contact the taxi company,” said Meagher. “So, when you saw a taxi in the town, you knew either somebody was wounded or killed in action.”

As he recalled, movies later would depict a uniformed officer accompanied by a chaplain visiting the house to deliver the bad news.

“Well, it didn’t work out that way for us,” he continued, recalling how his family learned about the death of his brother Earl in World War II. “You got a telegram from a taxi driver, and it was scary as all hell.”

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

Pvt. Earl Gordon Meagher (1921-1945)

Earl Gordon Meagher was born on April 30, 1921 in Hubbardston, the son of James W. and Lila (Clark) Meagher. He was the third son and one of 11 children born to the Hubbardston family, who lived on Elm Street.

He was graduate of the Boys’ Trade School in Worcester, where he studied welding. He was later employed at the Watertown Arsenal as a welder.

“Earl could have stayed home,” recalled his brother Benny. “At the time (during the service), he was down in Maryland welding guns, but he wound up volunteering for the paratrooper unit.”

Meagher enlisted on Aug. 5, 1943 and trained in the Ordinance Department at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. After joining up with the paratroopers, he was sent to England in December of 1943. From there he went to Belgium and on to Germany with the 82nd Airborne Division.

He was one of six brothers who served in the armed forces. At the time Earl was in Germany, his older brother Chief Petty Officer Wendell Meagher was in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific area, while another older brother Cpl. James Meagher was with the Air Transport Command, located in Hartford, Connecticut.

Of his younger brothers, Cpl. William Meagher, was in England, Pfc. Fred Meagher was in the Philippines and Seaman 1Rc Ralph Meagher was in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific area. At the time, Robert – the youngest brother – was a student at Worcester Boys’ Trade School.

“Can you imagine our mother and father, getting up each morning with four or five other sons in the active service?” Benny said. “Each day they didn’t know what to expect.”

Meagher noted that his older brother Wendell was aboard a ship in the Pacific and had a narrow miss of his own when a kamikaze pilot buzzed the vessel.

In addition to the six boys, there were also four married sisters, Phyllis McGrath, Ruth Kingsley, June Lindsten and Eunice Valley.

More: Remembering World War II Heroes: Granville Marean and Lief Ohlson

While taking part in the Battle of the Bulge, Pvt. Earl Meagher was killed in action over Germany on Feb. 2, 1945, according to a telegram sent to the family from the War Department. The 23-year-old Meagher was a member of the 504 Parachute Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division.

On the Friday evening that the telegram arrived at the family’s Elm Street home, Benny Meagher was at the Hubbardston Center School playing in a basketball game.

“It was about 8 or 9 o’clock at night when (the taxi driver) came out to the house,” he recalled. “I was at the school and my mother was up there watching the game when my father got the telegram.”

Someone got word to Meagher at the basketball game, so he left the gym and met his father halfway down Elm Street when he got the news.

“A friend then brought my mother home and I had to tell her about it,” he said, pausing emotionally. “It was tough.”

Private Meagher died six months before the war ended.

“My parents tried to get some information as to what happened to him, but they never really found out,” said Benny.

Originally buried in Germany, Pvt. Meagher was later interred in Pine Grove Cemetery in Hubbardston in 1948.

Benny Meagher, the last surviving Meagher son, turned 94 at the end of April, while many of his siblings lived well into their 80s and 90s. Their mom lived to the ripe age of 98.

In addition, his nephew Earl “Skip” Meagher, a former Gardner firefighter born two years after his uncle’s death, was his namesake.

Comments and suggestions for Remembering Local World War 2 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: Hubbardston's Earl Meagher died in World War II in Battle of the Bulge