Bernard F. Gautier was born on July 18, 1909, in Boston, Massachusetts. He served in the OSS Operations Group PAT as a Staff Sergeant during World War II. He was a member of a fifteen-strong American commando unit parachuted into the south Tarn on the night of the 6th of August 1944, as part of an allied plan to disrupt supply lines in southern France prior to D-Day in the South–scheduled for the 15th August. Their section conducted successful raids, but five days after their arrival, when the section ambushed a German motorcycle patrol leading a troop convoy near Le Rialet, T/5 Spaur was killed instantly in the firefight. After the initial firing, Gautier ran out onto the road to prevent the Germans from setting up a machine gun. He was shot in the back and killed by a wounded German. The surviving Americans and the maquisards subsequently killed all the Germans. SSgt Gautier is now buried in the Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France.

Source of information: https://www.nps.gov, robin-ellis.net, www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov