WWII veteran shares his story as he makes final push for Purple Heart at age 99
By Megan Matthews
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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — For Glenn Fisher, serving in the Army was never a question.
“It was something that I just laid down my life for, and it’s something that I earned. It’s something that should be presented [to me],” Fisher said.
Now, after decades of trying, the World War II veteran is making one final attempt to receive the Purple Heart he believes he earned during combat in 1945.
Monday marks 83 years since Fisher enlisted to serve in World War II. According to his friend, Jeff Thoke, Fisher was so determined to join that he altered his birth year so he could get in early.
“He changed the date because you could only be 17 or older to go in with your parent’s permission. He changed the 6 to a 7, and he went in as a 16-year-old,” Thoke said.
Fisher was deployed to England in September 1944 and later moved through Utah Beach, France, and the Netherlands before taking part in the Rhine River crossing in March 1945. It was there, he said, that he was wounded by German fire.
“They shot so many rounds that it was an airburst, and the shell went over about 20 feet off the ground and slings hundred and some pieces of shrapnel, well, one hit me,” Fisher said.
He said two men in his unit were killed and 14 others were injured, including himself. But Fisher says the date of his injury was recorded incorrectly, creating a major obstacle in proving his case.
“They put it in June. Something that I wasn’t there for. How’s that going to be possible?” Fisher said.
Three years ago, during an unrelated surgery, doctors discovered a piece of shrapnel still inside Fisher’s body, something they believed may have been there for more than 80 years.
“It was hard to tell what happened to it, but that was really fascinating that I carried that,” Fisher said.
That piece of shrapnel has since been lost, and Thoke said missing documentation from the day Fisher was wounded remains the biggest hurdle, because when getting the Purple Heart, everything must be documented.
“We have a lot of circumstantial evidence, but we don’t have anything saying Glenn was wounded. That’s the issue,” Thoke said.
Still, there is documentation showing Fisher was hospitalized, discharged and then hospitalized again months later for a reinfected wound.
Now, with Fisher approaching his 100th birthday this year, Thoke is asking the Army to interview him directly and consider the evidence they do have. He hopes Fisher’s story, scars and service record will finally be enough to bring him the recognition he has sought for nearly half a century.
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