Retired colonel to receive honorary U. diploma

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 3, 2008

Retired colonel and Medal of Honor recipient Bernard Francis Fisher will receive his diploma from the University of Utah 57 years after leaving school because of active duty service in the Air Force during the Korean War.

Fisher will receive his diploma, based on his academic achievement and life experience, as an honored guest and presenter at the commissioning ceremony of 10 cadets of the University of Utah Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program.

The commissioning ceremony will take place at the newly refurbished Utah Capitol Rotunda today, according to a press release from the university.

Fisher was in the AFROTC program while a U. student when he was commissioned as an officer in the Air Force.

Fisher was awarded the Medal of Honor for personal action above and beyond the call of duty by risking his life to save a fellow pilot, who was shot down during action in Vietnam in 1966.

During the battle, then-Major Fisher landed his Douglas A-1E Skyraider on an airfield controlled by the enemy under the most intense ground fire. He pulled the downed pilot from wreckage and took him aboard his aircraft, successfully escaping despite several bullets striking the plane. The aircraft Fisher was flying that day is displayed at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He also had extensive experience in such fighters as the F-80, F-86, and F-101, along with hundreds of close air support missions in the A-1E.

Born in San Bernardino, California, Fisher was raised and educated in Utah, calling Clearfield home. He lives today in Kuna, Idaho. He is the first living USAF recipient of the Medal of Honor. Moreover, he is the first USAF member to receive the medal from Vietnam.