Herbert Sobel

**Herbert M. Sobel, Sr.** was a commissioned officer and overly strict original commander of Easy Company.

## Biography

### Early Life

Sobel was born and grew up in Chicago, to a Jewish family. He attended the strong-disciplined Culver Military Academy in Indiana. He did well on the high school swim team and graduated from the University of Illinois. He was six feet tall, a slender build, and bore a striking resemblance to David Schwimmer, who portrayed him in the HBO miniseries.  Sobel volunteered for the paratroopers soon after the outbreak of World War II and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

### World War II

Promoted to first lieutenant, Sobel commanded Company E for all of their basic training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. He was known to be strict, earning hatred by many of his men. However, because of the intense training he gave his men, he was credited with creating the finest company in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to the rank of captain in recognition of his ability as a trainer.

After a period of training in the United Kingdom before the Normandy invasion, Captain Sobel was removed from command of Easy Company and transferred to command the Chilton Foliat jump school. First Lieutenant Thomas Meehan replaced Sobel and was one of several officers (including Richard Winters) to succeed him in that post before the war was over.

Contrary to popular belief, regimental records show that Sobel did jump into Normandy, but not with Easy Company, and earned a CIB as part of Regimental Company Headquarters.

Shortly before Easy Company took part in the invasion of the Netherlands, Sobel was assigned to the 506th once again, this time replacing Salve Matheson as the regimental S-4 (logistics) officer for Operation Market Garden.

### Later Life

Sobel returned to the United States after the war, and worked as an accountant before being recalled to active duty during the Korean War. He remained in the Army National Guard, eventually retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Sobel got married. He was nine years older than his wife, an American who first worked as a nurse in a hospital in Italy during the war. Later she worked at Hines VA Hospital in Chicago. They met there when Sobel visited a fellow soldier who had been wounded. Sobel and his wife had three boys named Michael, Herbert, Jr. and Rick and a daughter who died several days after birth.

In the late 1960s, Sobel shot himself in the head with a small-caliber pistol. The bullet entered his left temple, passed behind his eyes, and exited out the other side of his head. This severed his optic nerves and left him blind. Sobel's son Michael found this rather odd, as his father was right handed. He was later moved to a VA assisted living facility in Waukegan, Illinois, where he spent the last seventeen years of his life. He died on September 30, 1987, with his death certificate listing malnutrition as the cause, and his body was cremated. None of his family members attended his funeral because they were unaware of these events, and their contacts with him had waned over the years.

## Trivia

* Sobel's son, Michael asked his father about the war but never received any information from him. Sobel could be very private when he chose. Mrs. Sobel told her son later that Sobel had never talked to her about the war either. He stayed in the reserves for many years, eventually retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.
* Sobel worked as a credit manager for a wholesaler, A.C. McClurg & Co. in downtown Chicago, then for the Mathias Klein Company, which made tools for the telephone industry. His positions were mid-level. Every day he wore a suit and a clean, starched white-collared shirt. Michael didn’t recall a single day when his father was sick or stayed home from work.
* Every morning Sobel got up early and made breakfast for his wife. If it was the dead of winter he pulled his wife’s car up to the front of the house, cleared off the snow, and turned on the heater for her.
* Sergeant Guarnere, who plays an important role in the 101st Airborne Association, tried to find Sobel to see if he wanted to be involved in the association. Guarnere has said; “must give him [Sobel] his credit, he trained us harder than ever while there [in England], and this training paid off in combat”. This sort of sentiment was displayed by almost everyone in Easy Company after the war. They realised that it was Sobel who had made them into soldiers able to survive the war in the face of great adversity. Unfortunately, they still hated him – it was indeed a deep hatred. Guarnere tracked down Sobel’s sister, who informed him of his bad mental condition. She said he directed his anger at Easy Company.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.marcusbrotherton.com/unvarnished-truth-captain-herbert-sobel/
2. ↑ http://www.marcusbrotherton.com/unvarnished-truth-captain-herbert-sobel/
3. ↑ http://www.marcusbrotherton.com/unvarnished-truth-captain-herbert-sobel/
4. ↑ http://www.marcusbrotherton.com/unvarnished-truth-captain-herbert-sobel/
5. ↑ http://www.marcusbrotherton.com/unvarnished-truth-captain-herbert-sobel/
6. ↑ http://everything2.com/title/Captain+Herbert+Sobel