Fletcher was born June 5, 1920 and was drafted shortly after high school to serve in the United States Army on Oct. 13, 1942.
He served in second battalion, 31st infantry regiment.
“We had over a hundred thousand men in our division and I was an artillery expert, ran a gun, shot at the enemy, and used machine guns,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher said he fought in four different battles including the battle of Bulge.
He said he lived in a foxhole during the battle of Bulge, and it was a “tough” war to live through and experience. He was required to walk everywhere and “it was rough, and the weather was bad.”
Fletcher said he ran a rat race across central Europe fighting; when he was in Germany, there would sometimes be up to 18 inches of snow, and he would bundle up in the tent.
“I was scared night and day, and was afraid I would catch a bullet,” he recalled.
He said he never got wounded in any of the battles he fought in, but his feet froze from the cold temperatures, which cut him to the bone when he was fighting in the battle of the Bulge.
“I’m am one of the lucky ones that got to come home and am thankful I didn’t get wounded,” he said.
“I try to forget it; it was bad,” explained Fletcher about his war involvement and the excruciating scenes and flashback pains he experienced.
Fletcher said he “thought about (his) family a whole lot” and kept them close in his heart during the wars.
Even in the midst of hardships and rough times, Fletcher said he had some highlights like riding the biggest ship in the world at the time, the Queen Elizabeth, playing baseball occasionally, and a few furloughs when he was in the states.
He came home from combat in December 1945 and not long after, he met his bride Zeta Venita, and was married Oct. 29, 1946 in Gordon County.
Fletcher received an abundance of metals and ribbons for his acts of service.
A letter from the United States Army sent to him after his honorable discharge said Fletcher’s “courageous determination and unflinching devotion to his duties and responsibilities are in the keeping with the highest traditions of the armed forces of the United States.”
Fletcher said when he returned from the war, he was a farmer for a period of time until he got a job at Lockheed in 1953, and after 31 years there, he retired in March of 1984.
He said he remains healthy, but has trouble with his feet and goes to the doctor frequently be-cause of the freezing he endured fighting in combat.
Fletcher has one living sister named Shirley Fletcher, and has two living children: Patty Densmore and Michael Fletcher.
He is also blessed with three grandchildren and three great grand children, he said.
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