From Kodiak Island to Okinawa

Antipodean Andy · Aug 18, 2008

Central Ohio - www.centralohio.com - Central Ohio, OH

MANSFIELD -- Ernie Fisher, 91, has no trouble remembering where he was the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

"I was in bed when they got us up and told us what happened," Fisher said. "Then they had us get down to the beach to man our 37 millimeter anti-tank guns."

The beach was a frozen piece of Kodiak Island in Alaska, where Fisher was destined to spend 27 long months before he was sent into the real war in the Philippines and at Okinawa.

Fisher came from a family of 13 that lived in a remote place called Hacker Valley, W.Va. He was working in the nearby coal mines when he decided to join the Army on April 20, 1941.
After basic training at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana, Fisher was sent to Kodiak Island.

"Just bears and a lot of cold weather," was how he described his new post. "At first we were in tents, but eventually we built (Quonset) huts," Fisher said. "I was in the infantry and all we did was guard duty. There was a little place called Kodiak where you might have a couple beers if you could afford them."

Once the real war started, Fisher said a couple local Japanese were arrested and his post underwent a couple minor Japanese air raids. Otherwise, he said, "It was cold all the time and we about froze."

Things changed fast when Fisher was transferred to Fort Lewis, Wash. For a short time, he was a staff sergeant in his unit's supply room.

Then he was transferred to the 381st Infantry Division. He was a squad leader in E Company.

After taking jungle training in Hawaii, the men of the 381st set sail for Leyte, where they landed on the second day of the American invasion of that island in the Philippines.

"We spent our time hunting down the Japs. It was rough work," Fisher said.

He can recall several close encounters and more than one close call from sniper fire.

"They would be up in those coconut trees and you could spot them when they parted the leaves to shoot," Fisher said. "One of our guys fired at one of them with an anti-aircraft gun. There went the whole tree and the sniper with it.

He also remembers the mad scramble for a deep hole when a Japanese dive bomber came calling.

"You could see that bomb comin' down and headed right for us," he said.

But in the Leyte campaign, Sgt. Fisher led a charmed life.

That would change on Okinawa.

The 381st Infantry landed on Okinawa one day after the original landings on Easter Sunday 1945.

There was no opposition. That came later when the Americans came up against the Shuri Line.

"The worst thing was those cannons they had in caves. They would come out, fire on us and be pulled back in. We had to use flame throwers to get them," he said.

He remembers being deadly tired, but afraid to sleep.

"Someone might be creeping up on you," he said.

One of the missiles the Japanese used sent nails flying when they exploded and many of Fisher's friends were killed. Fisher himself was wounded April 10.

"One of those nails hit me in the upper left arm. It wasn't too bad because I was able to pull it out. It was still hot and I burned my fingers doing it," he said.

Fisher said that while the fire was heavy, a medic came to his aid and patched the wound.

Fisher was then evacuated under that same fire to a field hospital. He didn't know it then, but his war was over.

By the time he was healed enough to rejoin his unit, the fight for Okinawa was over.

The end result for Fisher was a Combat Infantry Badge and a Purple Heart.

Decades later, the combination of those two medals and his combat record resulted in the awarding of a Bronze Star.

"It came one day in the mail," Fisher recalls.

Like many other veterans, Fisher keeps all his medals in a wood display case with a glass cover. The Bronze Star is one of many.

With the war over, nobody had more points to come home than Fisher.

"I had been in the Army for four years and four months. When I joined, I figured I would be out in a year," he said.

Once home in West Virginia, Fisher went back to work in the coal mines. His job was to cut timber and take it into the mine to help shore up the ceiling and walls.

When he wasn't working, he started courting his new girlfriend, Retta.

"We started dating in March (1946) and got married in July," he said

That marriage is still going strong at 62 years. The couple has a daughter, Brenda Surver, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Not long after their marriage, Fisher had a close call when a part of the mine he was working in collapsed.

"I told my boss that if I get out of here tonight, then I won't be back," he said.

Instead, Fisher came to Mansfield, where two sisters already lived. He found a job at the Ohio Brass Company almost as soon as he could apply.

He stayed at Ohio Brass for 23 years, retiring in 1980.

When he and Retta came to Mansfield, their first home was a small trailer on Home Road.

"There was hardly room to turn around in there," Retta said.

The couple moved to Caldwell Avenue in Roseland not long after and still live at the same location.
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