October 10, 2025 • 10 mins
Glenn Fisher joined the U.S. military at age 16 in 1943. He ultimately landed at Utah Beach in France in September 1944.
Mr. Fisher and Terry Meiners discuss his WWll memories and his amazing life of service back home in Bedford, Kentucky.
There's a huge celebration for Mr. Fisher on Saturday, October 11 at the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department, co-founded by Glenn Fisher.
Mr. Fisher and Terry Meiners discuss his WWll memories and his amazing life of service back home in Bedford, Kentucky.
There's a huge celebration for Mr. Fisher on Saturday, October 11 at the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department, co-founded by Glenn Fisher.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're celebrating an American hero on his ninety ninth birthday.
His name is Glenn Fisher in Bedford, Kentucky. Mister Fisher,
welcome to the program.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Thank you sir for your service and for the years
of great things that you've done. You're one of the
founding members of the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I understand, yes, sir, yes, sir. It's just an honor
and a privilege to they on your program. And I've
had several people ask me, well, what do you attribute
your longevity to, and so I tell him, well, to
keep acting. If you don't lose if you don't use it,
(00:48):
you lose it. And so that's been my philosophy all
these years that I've kept too busy, especially in my
church work, and I belonged to several different organizations, the
Kentucky Farm Bureau of Insurance and the Soil Conservation Servers,
(01:11):
and of course I'm I've been the director for thirty
five years on a Bedford Loan Deposit Bank, and so
those things have kept me busy. Plus I've done a
lot of the volunteer work. And one of the things
that we we used to do was we did prison ministries.
(01:37):
We go two nights a week. Sometimes we go on
a night and another time and be on Sunday. And
one of the first times that we we did those
prison ministries, you go and when that big electric gate
clan shut, you have a little a little fear of thoughter.
(01:58):
But they give you a two way rado that you
hook onto your belt, so if you needed it, why
you'd have it to holler for help. Of course, nothing
ever happened, but you had to walk. You had to
walk across the prison yards to the chapel. And one
of the first times that we were there, they they said,
(02:20):
mister Fisher, would you would you pray for They pointed
out this certain individuals that his mother is in very
bad shape. Well, yes, I said, I'd be glad to.
So I stepped out from behind the pool pitt and
called him forward, put my hands on him, and began
to pray. And all of a sudden I felt people
(02:43):
are really pushing in close to me. I mean really,
the capacity in there was for a hundred and something,
and I believe it was almost all of them. But anyhow,
I'd forgot to check in my billfold and my other stuff.
When I came in, I thought, oh my, I hope
(03:03):
there's no pick pockets in this bunch. But anyhow it
wasn't and it turned out turned out to be really good.
We talked about the talked about the foreign apartment. Yes,
Sir COLONL. Morgan, who was a registered pharmacist, lived in
(03:27):
Lagrange and he came to Bedford in nineteen forty eight
and bought the old bailed drug store and right away
he set up a soda fountain in there and so
coach for a nickel, and he was just he was
(03:47):
just really good. And some of the older people couldn't
get their prescriptions, well he'd take them to their homes.
So it worked out real good. But Bedford had been
partially destroyed about four different times by far so Curls said,
what we need is a is a far department. Well
(04:10):
we all agreed that that's what we willis. I'm going
to call a meeting for next week and everybody that's
interested I wanted them to come, and we're going to
discuss about having a Bedford volunteer Far Department. Well, the
next week showed up and the twenty of us showed up.
(04:31):
I don't know why that magic figure was there. But
anyhow that we decided right in and there, Yes, that's
what we wanted. We wanted the volunteer far department. So
they said they wanted Curls to be the chief. He said, well,
(04:53):
I will be under one circumstance that you let me
elect Glenn Fisher. Is is this? Said Jae. So I thought,
my what an honor. Anyhow, I accepted it, and we
started in and we built our own, partially the building
(05:13):
for the pumper, and bought one on our own. And
that runs in my mind that we might have given
I think around seven thousand, five hundred dollars for it,
but it was a new one, and oh it was
really abut so but what you do. You have a
(05:34):
car and you go out and all the water you
have is what was on the pumper itself. So we decided, well, immediately,
right now, we're going to have to have a bigger
truck with a big tank. Order. So we finally found
one somewhere and it held several thousand gallons, so that
(05:54):
thing would follow the follow the pumper, so you'd have
plenty of water to put out afar with no doubt.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
All right, So Glenn I just want to congratulate you.
This is your birthday today. Yes, sir, you're ninety nine
years old. You already explained to us how you've lived
this long. But just take me for a minute back
to nineteen forty three, the wars raging on. You're sixteen
years old. Did you trick the military into letting you
(06:23):
sign up or were they accepting sixteen year olds in
nineteen forty three?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well, you know, back then on December the seventh Japan
attack for On Harbor, and that was on a Sunday.
Well I would I had just passed fifteen the previous October,
October the tenth, and I prayed about it and thought
about it. And of course my father and all my
(06:51):
uncles in there, and a lot of them are kinfolk
at all, be in World War One. So I thought,
I'm you know, I just got the volunteer and go
on and serve my country. So I did, and I
was big for my age. And they asked me, they said,
well how old are you? I said, well, I'm eighteen,
(07:12):
So I guess that they They didn't take me that day,
but evidently they came and talked to my family, and
then by February the eighteenth of the following year, which
was just a couple of months down the road. Why,
I laughed, and it was gone, and it's a it
(07:36):
was a yeah. A lot of water, A lot of
water went under the bridge there.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You bet. Yeah, Utah, you land on Utah Beach in France.
And then that's in September forty four. You're in Belgium, Luxembourg,
and then into Germany where you met the Russians. And yes, sir,
may have forty five I minutes a heck of a story.
I just want to thank you again because you and
all your colleagues and all those young men that we
(08:04):
left behind there that I mean, they are buried there
in near Normandy. You saved the world and we can't
stop thanking you for that.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And tomorrow they're going to have a parade for you
something like that in Bedford, Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Did I hear that right, Yes, sir, Yes, sir at
the Bedford Bounder of Art apartment. Sure that was that
really tickles me?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Well good, it's just it was an honor to speak
with you, mister Fisher, and thank you for your service
and so happy for you that you and your colleagues
and the greatest generation saved the world and you're still
here to keep telling the story. So thank you from
the bottom of my heart and all the people listening
to us, we appreciate your sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
All right, have a great birthday and hopefully I'll be
able to see you at Bedford, Kentucky tomorrow, and we're
going to let people know. From two to four pm
at the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department on Church Street, you
can come celebrate Glen Fisher and thank you sir.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yes, yes, sir, well, thank you. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You bet you. Thanks so much. All right. That's Glenn Fisher,
and I appreciate the connection through the Honor Flight Bluegrass folks,
Jeff Toki and those folks to celebrate another American hero
on his ninety ninth birthday.
We're celebrating an American hero on his ninety ninth birthday.
His name is Glenn Fisher in Bedford, Kentucky. Mister Fisher,
welcome to the program.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Thank you sir for your service and for the years
of great things that you've done. You're one of the
founding members of the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I understand, yes, sir, yes, sir. It's just an honor
and a privilege to they on your program. And I've
had several people ask me, well, what do you attribute
your longevity to, and so I tell him, well, to
keep acting. If you don't lose if you don't use it,
(00:48):
you lose it. And so that's been my philosophy all
these years that I've kept too busy, especially in my
church work, and I belonged to several different organizations, the
Kentucky Farm Bureau of Insurance and the Soil Conservation Servers,
(01:11):
and of course I'm I've been the director for thirty
five years on a Bedford Loan Deposit Bank, and so
those things have kept me busy. Plus I've done a
lot of the volunteer work. And one of the things
that we we used to do was we did prison ministries.
(01:37):
We go two nights a week. Sometimes we go on
a night and another time and be on Sunday. And
one of the first times that we we did those
prison ministries, you go and when that big electric gate
clan shut, you have a little a little fear of thoughter.
(01:58):
But they give you a two way rado that you
hook onto your belt, so if you needed it, why
you'd have it to holler for help. Of course, nothing
ever happened, but you had to walk. You had to
walk across the prison yards to the chapel. And one
of the first times that we were there, they they said,
(02:20):
mister Fisher, would you would you pray for They pointed
out this certain individuals that his mother is in very
bad shape. Well, yes, I said, I'd be glad to.
So I stepped out from behind the pool pitt and
called him forward, put my hands on him, and began
to pray. And all of a sudden I felt people
(02:43):
are really pushing in close to me. I mean really,
the capacity in there was for a hundred and something,
and I believe it was almost all of them. But anyhow,
I'd forgot to check in my billfold and my other stuff.
When I came in, I thought, oh my, I hope
(03:03):
there's no pick pockets in this bunch. But anyhow it
wasn't and it turned out turned out to be really good.
We talked about the talked about the foreign apartment. Yes,
Sir COLONL. Morgan, who was a registered pharmacist, lived in
(03:27):
Lagrange and he came to Bedford in nineteen forty eight
and bought the old bailed drug store and right away
he set up a soda fountain in there and so
coach for a nickel, and he was just he was
(03:47):
just really good. And some of the older people couldn't
get their prescriptions, well he'd take them to their homes.
So it worked out real good. But Bedford had been
partially destroyed about four different times by far so Curls said,
what we need is a is a far department. Well
(04:10):
we all agreed that that's what we willis. I'm going
to call a meeting for next week and everybody that's
interested I wanted them to come, and we're going to
discuss about having a Bedford volunteer Far Department. Well, the
next week showed up and the twenty of us showed up.
(04:31):
I don't know why that magic figure was there. But
anyhow that we decided right in and there, Yes, that's
what we wanted. We wanted the volunteer far department. So
they said they wanted Curls to be the chief. He said, well,
(04:53):
I will be under one circumstance that you let me
elect Glenn Fisher. Is is this? Said Jae. So I thought,
my what an honor. Anyhow, I accepted it, and we
started in and we built our own, partially the building
(05:13):
for the pumper, and bought one on our own. And
that runs in my mind that we might have given
I think around seven thousand, five hundred dollars for it,
but it was a new one, and oh it was
really abut so but what you do. You have a
(05:34):
car and you go out and all the water you
have is what was on the pumper itself. So we decided, well, immediately,
right now, we're going to have to have a bigger
truck with a big tank. Order. So we finally found
one somewhere and it held several thousand gallons, so that
(05:54):
thing would follow the follow the pumper, so you'd have
plenty of water to put out afar with no doubt.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
All right, So Glenn I just want to congratulate you.
This is your birthday today. Yes, sir, you're ninety nine
years old. You already explained to us how you've lived
this long. But just take me for a minute back
to nineteen forty three, the wars raging on. You're sixteen
years old. Did you trick the military into letting you
(06:23):
sign up or were they accepting sixteen year olds in
nineteen forty three?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well, you know, back then on December the seventh Japan
attack for On Harbor, and that was on a Sunday.
Well I would I had just passed fifteen the previous October,
October the tenth, and I prayed about it and thought
about it. And of course my father and all my
(06:51):
uncles in there, and a lot of them are kinfolk
at all, be in World War One. So I thought,
I'm you know, I just got the volunteer and go
on and serve my country. So I did, and I
was big for my age. And they asked me, they said,
well how old are you? I said, well, I'm eighteen,
(07:12):
So I guess that they They didn't take me that day,
but evidently they came and talked to my family, and
then by February the eighteenth of the following year, which
was just a couple of months down the road. Why,
I laughed, and it was gone, and it's a it
(07:36):
was a yeah. A lot of water, A lot of
water went under the bridge there.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You bet. Yeah, Utah, you land on Utah Beach in France.
And then that's in September forty four. You're in Belgium, Luxembourg,
and then into Germany where you met the Russians. And yes, sir,
may have forty five I minutes a heck of a story.
I just want to thank you again because you and
all your colleagues and all those young men that we
(08:04):
left behind there that I mean, they are buried there
in near Normandy. You saved the world and we can't
stop thanking you for that.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And tomorrow they're going to have a parade for you
something like that in Bedford, Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Did I hear that right, Yes, sir, Yes, sir at
the Bedford Bounder of Art apartment. Sure that was that
really tickles me?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Well good, it's just it was an honor to speak
with you, mister Fisher, and thank you for your service
and so happy for you that you and your colleagues
and the greatest generation saved the world and you're still
here to keep telling the story. So thank you from
the bottom of my heart and all the people listening
to us, we appreciate your sacrifice.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
All right, have a great birthday and hopefully I'll be
able to see you at Bedford, Kentucky tomorrow, and we're
going to let people know. From two to four pm
at the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department on Church Street, you
can come celebrate Glen Fisher and thank you sir.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yes, yes, sir, well, thank you. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
You bet you. Thanks so much. All right. That's Glenn Fisher,
and I appreciate the connection through the Honor Flight Bluegrass folks,
Jeff Toki and those folks to celebrate another American hero
on his ninety ninth birthday.
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