Born in Canada, Robert Paradis emigrated to the United States with his family as a small boy in 1917, settling in Nasua, New Hampshire. He attended Saint Louis De Gonzague Elementary School, and then Sacred Heart College in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he graduated in 1925. He then entered the Saint Joseph Juriorate in Colebrook, New Hampshire, and later attended the Novitiate of the Oblate Fathers in Hudson, New Hampshire. He completed his studies in South Natick, Massachusetts, and was ordained a Catholic Priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate on June 20, 1937. On April 6, 1943, he entered military service and was commissioned as a U.S. Army chaplain on April 8, 1943, serving with the 79th Infantry Division in Europe. Discharged on May 27, 1946, after the war he served in several parishes in Lowell, Massachusetts; Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; and Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Nashua; before moving to Plattsburg, New York to serve at Saint Peter’s church.
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Awards Received
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Silver Star
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Silver Star
Service:
United States ArmyRank:
Captain (Chaplain’s Corps)Regiment:
314th Infantry RegimentDivision:
79th Infantry DivisionAction Date:
July 7, 1944
Headquarters, 79th Infantry Division, General Orders No. 33 (1944)(Citation Needed) – SYNOPSIS: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Captain (Chaplain’s Corps) Robert Melchior Paradis (ASN: 0-516865), United States Army, for gallantry in action against the enemy while serving with as a chaplain with the 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division, in operations against the enemy during the hedgerow fighting in France, on 7 July 1944. Chaplain Paradis rescued two wounded men from beyond friendly lines, and dragged them across a creek to safety. He was in a half-dozen places at once, everywhere bringing a word of word of good cheer and doing an immense amount of work. For wounds received while doing this work, he was evacuated from the Division. The gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty demonstrated by Chaplain Paradis, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.