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Remember...Kermit Camden Fisher
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Kermit Camden Fisher was born November 22, 1922, at Glenville, West Virginia, the youngest son of Elias and Janet Westfall Fisher. Kermit graduated from Glenville High School, where he played trumpet in the band, and attended Glenville State Teachers College in 1942 before entering the service in August 1943. He was a member of 4-H and attended Glenville Baptist Church.
Private Kermit Fisher enlisted at Clarksburg on July 12, 1943, and was assigned to the Infantry Training Center at Camp Fannin, Texas. In March 1944, he was sent overseas as a member of Company C, 338th Infantry, 85th "Custer" Division, part of Lt. Gen. Mark Clark's Fifth Army. By mid-September, the 85th was attacking the German Gothic Line in northern Italy, north of the Arno River.
During the night of September 16, 1944, Kermit was a "platoon runner" who maintained contact between three squads of the platoon during intense enemy fire resulting from an attack on a major objective. After the enemy was forced from their position, Kermit joined in another assault against a double bunker position and, by the use of rifle and grenade fire, forced his way to the bunker itself and was killed by machine gun fire.
In a letter to Kermit's mother dated December 9, 1944, William Kendall of the Corps of Chaplains provided details of Kermit's death. "Kermit was killed instantly in Northern Italy around seven o'clock in the morning, September 17, 1944 while charging an enemy dugout. He was killed by a machine gun bullet through the right eye and one through the right shoulder . . . Kermit has been awarded the Bronze Star posthumously for his work at the time of his death."
Pvt. Kermit C. Fisher was initially interred in the cemetery at Castlefiorentino, Italy. His body was returned to United States and on March 3, 1949, was buried in the Stalnaker Cemetery in Glenville.
Information provided by Rodney Young; photo courtesy of Betty Fisher Young.
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
