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The ultimate wingman

  • Published
  • By Richard Shea
  • 27th Special Operations Wing
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Air Force Special Operations Command lost a valuable member of its team as well as the ultimate "wingman" this past Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014, when Medal of Honor recipient and retired Col. Bernard Fisher died in his home state of Idaho at 87 years old.

Fisher, who volunteered to go to Vietnam, earned his Medal of Honor risking his life to save a fellow pilot shot down during action in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam in 1966. A member of the 1st Air Commando Squadron, Fisher landed his Douglas A-1E Skyraider on an airfield controlled by the enemy under intense ground fire, pulled the downed pilot (his wingman for that mission, Maj. D.W. "Jump" Myers) aboard his aircraft, and successfully escaped despite several bullets striking his aircraft.

Ironically, then-Major Fisher, while flying support for the same battle in which he would earn his Medal of Honor, had earned a Silver Star the day before.

After having served briefly in the Navy at the end of WWII, Fisher returned to school at the University of Utah, yet prior to completing his degree requirements he was commissioned into the Air Force in 1951. After pilot training, he was assigned to the Air Force's Air Defense Command, until he volunteered for duty in Vietnam. In 2008, he received his diploma from the University of Utah, 57 years after attending classes.

In another ironic twist of fate, Fisher was the first to receive the Air Force designed Medal of Honor, which was established on April 14, 1965. The first Medal of Honor received by an Airman was awarded to Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker for aerial combat in 1918.

Today, Fisher's aircraft, 52-132649, is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

Fisher was born in San Bernadino, California, raised and educated in Utah and retired in Kuna, Idaho.