Medal of Honor Monday: Air Force Col. Bernard Fisher

Air Force Col. Bernard Francis Fisher was not a rescue helicopter pilot during Vietnam. Still, during a firefight in which he saw a fellow pilot go down and need immediate rescue, he didn’t hesitate to use his aircraft in that capacity. Fisher’s actions saved another pilot’s life that day. For his bravery, he received the Medal of Honor.

Fisher was born Jan. 11, 1927, in San Bernardino, California, to Bruce and Lydia Fisher. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Clearfield, Utah, where Fisher grew up with an older sister and two younger brothers.

In a Library of Congress Veterans History Project interview, Fisher said his love of flying arose at a young age. He built and flew model airplanes, and after a member of his church group took him up in an airplane, he said he was hooked.

“I thought that was just the greatest thing,” he said.

In February 1945, Fisher, then 17, joined the Navy’s aircrew training program. He served during the last year of World War II and was discharged March 1946. He then relocated to a farm in Kuna, Idaho, where his parents had moved while he was in the service.

Shortly after returning home, Fisher met registered nurse Realla Johnson and fell in love. The pair married in 1948 and went on to have six sons.

Starting in 1947, Fisher attended Boise Junior College, now Boise State University. Two years later, he transferred to the University of Utah, where he participated in ROTC, which reinvigorated his urge to fly. He received his commission into the Air Force and entered active-duty status before he finished his degree.

Fisher began Air Force officer training in 1951 and eventually earned his wings. His first assignment was flying the F-86D Sabre before being assigned to serve in Japan in 1955. Over the next decade, he served in various places as a weapons controller, F-101B Voodoo pilot and F-104 Starfighter pilot. By 1965, he volunteered for duty in Vietnam to serve as a pilot in the A-1E Skyraider, a propeller plane that was a heavy fighter bomber.

“It flies about 150 mph, but it carries a tremendous load … as much as the B-17 in World War II,” Fisher said.

He arrived in-country July 1965 and was assigned to the 1st Air Commando Squadron. Their job was initially to train South Vietnamese pilots on the Skyraider, but that only lasted a few months, Fisher said. Their mission switched to flying combat sorties and rescues. 

On March 10, 1966, then-Maj. Fisher took off in his aircraft from Pleiku, South Vietnam, to fly a routine bombing and attack mission, but soon he was diverted to a Special Forces camp in the A Shau Valley. The camp was under attack by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers, and the 450 men stationed there — about 17 of whom were American advisors — desperately needed air support.

When Fisher and other aircraft neared the camp, there was heavy cloud cover, and most of the aircraft were flying at about 20,000 feet, trying to find a break in the clouds to get lower to see where they were. Eventually, Fisher found that break and recognized the location, so he and three other aircraft dipped down into the valley.

The weather forced them to operate within range of hostile gun positions, which fired on them. One aircraft got hit early on and had to back off. Fisher and the two remaining aircraft proceeded into the surrounded camp to attack the enemy, many of whom were positioned between the camp and the airfield.

During the fight, Fisher noticed a fellow pilot, 46-year-old Air Force Maj. Dafford Myers, crash-land on the battle-torn airstrip. Fisher said in his Library of Congress interview that the aircraft caught fire, and he initially thought Myers was dead, but he saw the airman run from the burning plane to find refuge in an embankment.

Fisher called for a rescue helicopter but realized it likely wouldn’t get there in time. With enemy troops surrounding Myers, Fisher said he knew the likelihood of the pilot being captured beforehand was too high.

“That’s about the time that I realized we had to get him out of there some way because he wouldn’t make it otherwise,” Fisher said.

He announced he was going to land on the airstrip to rescue Myers despite the likelihood of failure.

“I knew the runway was short,” Fisher said. “But we made the decision.”

Directing his own air cover, Fisher landed his Skyraider and taxied almost the full length of the runway, which was littered with battle debris and parts of Myers’ exploded aircraft.

“When I taxied by [Myers], he waved both arms vigorously. I stopped as soon as I could, but taxiing as fast as I was, it must have taken about 100 feet to stop,” Fisher later told Air Force officials, remembering he quickly lost track of Myers. “So, I set the brakes on the bird and climbed over the right seat to get out on the side he was on. I looked through the mirror and saw two little red, beady eyes trying to crawl up the back of the wing.”

He realized it was Myers, so he quickly grabbed the airman by the flight suit and dragged him headfirst into the cockpit. Meanwhile, heavy fire was still coming their way, so they moved to quickly get airborne again.

“We just gave each other a big hug and squeeze, and we took off,” Fisher told the Veterans History Project.

Fisher later learned that 19 bullets had struck his aircraft. He got lucky; unfortunately, they still lost a lot of good men and aircraft that day, he said.

Fisher was still in Vietnam when he learned that he’d been nominated for the Medal of Honor. However, he continued flying another 30 missions until his deployment was over in June 1966. During his yearlong tour, Air Force records show, he flew 200 combat sorties.

From Vietnam, Fisher was transferred to Bitburg Air Base, Germany, where he assumed command of the 525th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. While there, he learned he was officially being sent to Washington to receive the nation’s highest honor for valor.

On Jan. 19, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson put the Medal of Honor around Fisher’s neck during a White House ceremony that his family and Myers attended. Fisher became the first living Air Force recipient of the medal.

“It was really a beautiful feeling,” Fisher said of the ceremony. “It’s a great feeling to know that you’re recognized for what you’ve done. And it represents a lot of other people.”

Fisher continued with his Air Force career. After Germany, he became the operations officer of the 87th Fighter Interceptor Squadron in Duluth, Minnesota, before arriving at the 124th Fighter Interceptor Group in Boise, Idaho, in July 1971. He remained at that location until he retired as a colonel July 30, 1974. He then moved the short distance back to his native Kuna.

Fisher continued to fly for several years for an Idaho-based commuter airline, according to the Los Angeles Times. He also grew fruit trees, got into beekeeping and was involved in the Boy Scouts.

In 1999, the Military Sealift Command acquired a prepositioning ship and renamed it the MV Maj. Bernard F. Fisher in his honor. Fisher’s hometown, Kuna, also dedicated the Col. Bernard Fisher Veterans Memorial Park to him that same year.

In 2004, Fisher released an autobiography called “Beyond the Call of Duty: The Story of an American Hero in Vietnam.”

On May 3, 2008 — 57 years after he left college for the Air Force — Fisher finally received his degree in fine arts from the University of Utah.

“It’s simply amazing. I didn’t think I was ever going to get my diploma. I’m very proud to have it,” the 81-year-old said at the ceremony.

During the celebration, which doubled as an ROTC commissioning ceremony, the school also presented its top graduating cadet with a new leadership award named in Fisher’s honor.

Fisher died Aug. 16, 2014, at age 87, at the Idaho State Veterans Home. He is buried in the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery in Boise.

In remembrance, the bullet-riddled Skyraider that Fisher flew during his Medal of Honor actions is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Riverside, Ohio.  

This article is part of a weekly series called “Medal of Honor Monday,” in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have received the U.S. military’s highest medal for valor. The new National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas, will celebrate these recipients when it opens its doors on National Medal of Honor Day, March 25, 2025.