SSGT. Milton Fletcher
U.S. Army – 7th Infantry Division
184th Regiment, Charlie Company
Okinawa, Japan and Korea
June 1944 – December 1956
U.S. Army – 7th Infantry Division
184th Regiment, Charlie Company
Okinawa, Japan and Korea
June 1944 – December 1956
Milton Fletcher was born in Americus, Georgia on December 31, 1926. He was number 7 of 8 children including four sisters. Americus was a small farm town of about 10,000 people. Milton recalled the population “was half white and half black.” Cotton was the dominant crop until there was a Boll weevil infestation. The farmers switched to peaches and then later pecans. His dad had a regular job during the Great Depression. He owned a life insurance agency, sold real estate, underwrote mortgages and had a farm. Business may not have been robust but “he made it happen.” There was always food and proper clothing. “We weren’t rich, but we were well provided for. My dad sent all the children to college.” Milton remembered when Franklin Roosevelt was elected President. “We were all singing ‘Happy Days Are Here Again.’”
Milton comes from a family with military history. Two brothers and two sisters served in World War II and Korea. He also had four brothers-in-law that served in World War II. One was a pilot, one was a paratrooper, one was in the Signal Corp., and another served at Guadalcanal. Milton’s father’s grandfather, James Humphreys, was a surgeon in a Confederate hospital in Richmond during the Civil War. Milton has also traced the family genealogy back to the American Revolutionary War where he had eight relatives that fought against the British.
Milton and his brothers and sister would often spend Saturdays and Sundays at the local movie theater. Milton recalled being at the local movie theater with his sisters when they announced that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. He also recalls sitting as a family around the radio listening to President Roosevelt’s address to the nation and the declaration of war. His father told the family, “this means every man, women and child is under attack.”
The family would listen to the new broadcasts on the radio each morning while eating breakfast. They had been following the war in Europe and often had family discussions about it. Milton’s brother was a pilot in the Army Air Force at the time of the attack and quickly found himself deployed to Cairo to defend the Suez Canal. The family followed the war on the radio hoping to hear news about the U.S. efforts in North Africa.
On June 1st of 1944 Milton graduated from Americus High School. He graduated in 11 years and took a test in his senior year to see if he qualified to be an engineer with the Army. The U.S. knew they were going to have to rebuild the roads and bridges in Europe after the war and they were looking for engineers they could train and utilize. They picked the students with the best math and science scores and Milton was selected. He enlisted with the Army Reserves on D-Day. Milton needed his mother to sign for him because he was only 17 at the time. “It was like the ROTC but more intense”. Initially the Army sent him to the University of Alabama and then to Alabama Polytechnic for education and training in engineering. Six months into the program the Battle of the Bulge took place. The Army decided they needed infantry replacement soldiers more than engineers and the program was terminated. Milton headed for training as a rifleman.
Milton went to Camp Robinson in Little Rock Arkansas for infantry training during January and February. “The coldest winter that we’d had in a long time.” From there Milton went to Fort Meade where he thought he was going to be a replacement for the men lost during the Battle of the Bulge. But the Army decided the replacements were needed more in the Pacific Theater and Milton received orders to Okinawa, Japan. Their first stop was Hawaii for jungle training followed by further training in the Marshall Islands and the Caroline Islands. Milton recalled spending significant training time crawling down the cargo nets on the side of the ship with a full backpack, ammunition and rifle.
Okinawa is an island 350 miles from mainland Japan and was densely populated with an estimated 450,000 civilians. It was thought that after taking Okinawa the Allied Forces would then attempt an invasion of mainland Japan. This made Okinawa of critical importance to both the Allies and Japan and that resulted in what is considered to be the most intense fighting and the bloodiest battle in the Pacific theater.
The U.S. and British Navies began heavy bombardment of the island during the last week in March. The Japanese navy counter attacked along with multiple kamikaze attacks. Three divisions of Marines and four Army divisions began the amphibious invasion on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945. They reached the beach with no resistance. They found that the Japanese had entrenched themselves in the numerous caves throughout the island. This led to heavy close quarters and hand to hand combat and resulted in numerous casualties on both sides. There are estimates of 100,000 Japanese killed, 100,000 civilian deaths and 12,000 U.S deaths. 24 U.S. GIs received the Medal of Honor in this battle.
When Milton landed in Naha he was able to see the destruction from the intense shelling by the Navy. “We landed near Naha, a city of 65,000 but there wasn’t a building left over three feet high” except for one church steeple. “The Navy had just pounded the town. The fighting on Okinawa started on Easter Sunday April 1, 1945. The politicians declared the area stable on June 21st. I got there between June 21st and July 4th and they were still shooting.” Milton arrived as a replacement. “At the time the casualty rate was 110%.” As a front-line rifleman they told me “my life expectancy was 30 minutes.”
“We had to do patrols of the caves because all of the civilians and all the Army were pretty well hold up. The island of Okinawa is pretty much a cave country. If they were not able to get the Japanese to come out of the caves, they had to use phosphorus grenades and flame throwers to force them out. “I was frightened to death. I wasn’t trained to kilI. I had to learn. I was fortunate I didn’t have hand-to-hand-combat.”
Milton thought he was going to be part of the forces that would be invading mainland Japan. Then they received word that an unusual bomb had been dropped. They didn’t think much of it until they received word that a second atomic bomb had been dropped and the Japanese had surrendered. In late August Milton’s unit was sent to Seoul, Korea to receive the surrender of the Japanese forces in Korea. Milton and his unit arrived in Inchon, Korea and were sent to Seoul where they were assigned to guard the Bank of Chosin, the Capital Building and the telephone company. When the war ended Milton was part of the Occupation Forces in Korea. In December of 1946 he returned to Fort Sam Houston in Texas where he was discharged from active duty but remain part of the U.S. Reserves as a Staff Sargent.
In January of 1947 Milton attended Southwestern College in Americus and then the University of Georgia where he completed his undergraduate degree before he was recalled by the Army for the Korean War. From September 1950 through December of 1951 Milton was stationed in Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina in Adjunct General’s division of the headquarters headquarters company. He worked in the reception center processing GIs for basic training.
Along the way Milton reconnected with his childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth Perry. “She dropped a handkerchief over me when she was in kindergarten.” Elizabeth had a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a masters in pathology and blood chemistry. They tied the knot in 1951 while Milton was stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.
Milton was discharged as a Staff Sargent First Class and he attended the University of Georgia in 1955 for his Master’s Degree.
Milton initially began his career as a teaching principal. He was looking for something more and took a job in educational publishing with Scott Foresmann & Company. “You probably learned to read with Dick, Jane and Sally. They were my kids. They sent my children to school.” He started as a sales rep and moved up to the manager for the Atlanta area and then later promoted to Vice President for the southeastern states. He had a 30-year career and retired at the age of 60. In retirement Milton and Elizabeth traveled extensively through Europe, the United States and Canada. After 69 years of marriage and two children Elizabeth passed away in 2020.
Milton is currently lives in Brevard, NC and is involved with yoga, rides his bicycle, walks each morning, follows the stock market and keeps at least one book going. “I’ve had a full life.”
“I think about my mother having four sons-in-law in service, three sons in service, two daughters in service. She’d been through World War I with her two brothers in World War I.”
“We were all in it. We were all patriotic and bought war bonds.” “I just did what everybody else was doing. I joined.”
“I’m all for patriotism. I love my country. It bothers me that we’re so divided. In World War II everybody was involved. There was no salary raises, prices were frozen. We’ve gotten selfish, each going our own way today.”
“We need to mend our fences and love our country and defend democracy. You can quote me on that. I feel pretty strongly about that.”
Milton, thanks for saving the world from the Axis powers. And let’s not forget about your time serving in the Korean War. You were, as you like to say, “a double dipper.”
Milton comes from a family with military history. Two brothers and two sisters served in World War II and Korea. He also had four brothers-in-law that served in World War II. One was a pilot, one was a paratrooper, one was in the Signal Corp., and another served at Guadalcanal. Milton’s father’s grandfather, James Humphreys, was a surgeon in a Confederate hospital in Richmond during the Civil War. Milton has also traced the family genealogy back to the American Revolutionary War where he had eight relatives that fought against the British.
Milton and his brothers and sister would often spend Saturdays and Sundays at the local movie theater. Milton recalled being at the local movie theater with his sisters when they announced that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. He also recalls sitting as a family around the radio listening to President Roosevelt’s address to the nation and the declaration of war. His father told the family, “this means every man, women and child is under attack.”
The family would listen to the new broadcasts on the radio each morning while eating breakfast. They had been following the war in Europe and often had family discussions about it. Milton’s brother was a pilot in the Army Air Force at the time of the attack and quickly found himself deployed to Cairo to defend the Suez Canal. The family followed the war on the radio hoping to hear news about the U.S. efforts in North Africa.
On June 1st of 1944 Milton graduated from Americus High School. He graduated in 11 years and took a test in his senior year to see if he qualified to be an engineer with the Army. The U.S. knew they were going to have to rebuild the roads and bridges in Europe after the war and they were looking for engineers they could train and utilize. They picked the students with the best math and science scores and Milton was selected. He enlisted with the Army Reserves on D-Day. Milton needed his mother to sign for him because he was only 17 at the time. “It was like the ROTC but more intense”. Initially the Army sent him to the University of Alabama and then to Alabama Polytechnic for education and training in engineering. Six months into the program the Battle of the Bulge took place. The Army decided they needed infantry replacement soldiers more than engineers and the program was terminated. Milton headed for training as a rifleman.
Milton went to Camp Robinson in Little Rock Arkansas for infantry training during January and February. “The coldest winter that we’d had in a long time.” From there Milton went to Fort Meade where he thought he was going to be a replacement for the men lost during the Battle of the Bulge. But the Army decided the replacements were needed more in the Pacific Theater and Milton received orders to Okinawa, Japan. Their first stop was Hawaii for jungle training followed by further training in the Marshall Islands and the Caroline Islands. Milton recalled spending significant training time crawling down the cargo nets on the side of the ship with a full backpack, ammunition and rifle.
Okinawa is an island 350 miles from mainland Japan and was densely populated with an estimated 450,000 civilians. It was thought that after taking Okinawa the Allied Forces would then attempt an invasion of mainland Japan. This made Okinawa of critical importance to both the Allies and Japan and that resulted in what is considered to be the most intense fighting and the bloodiest battle in the Pacific theater.
The U.S. and British Navies began heavy bombardment of the island during the last week in March. The Japanese navy counter attacked along with multiple kamikaze attacks. Three divisions of Marines and four Army divisions began the amphibious invasion on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945. They reached the beach with no resistance. They found that the Japanese had entrenched themselves in the numerous caves throughout the island. This led to heavy close quarters and hand to hand combat and resulted in numerous casualties on both sides. There are estimates of 100,000 Japanese killed, 100,000 civilian deaths and 12,000 U.S deaths. 24 U.S. GIs received the Medal of Honor in this battle.
When Milton landed in Naha he was able to see the destruction from the intense shelling by the Navy. “We landed near Naha, a city of 65,000 but there wasn’t a building left over three feet high” except for one church steeple. “The Navy had just pounded the town. The fighting on Okinawa started on Easter Sunday April 1, 1945. The politicians declared the area stable on June 21st. I got there between June 21st and July 4th and they were still shooting.” Milton arrived as a replacement. “At the time the casualty rate was 110%.” As a front-line rifleman they told me “my life expectancy was 30 minutes.”
“We had to do patrols of the caves because all of the civilians and all the Army were pretty well hold up. The island of Okinawa is pretty much a cave country. If they were not able to get the Japanese to come out of the caves, they had to use phosphorus grenades and flame throwers to force them out. “I was frightened to death. I wasn’t trained to kilI. I had to learn. I was fortunate I didn’t have hand-to-hand-combat.”
Milton thought he was going to be part of the forces that would be invading mainland Japan. Then they received word that an unusual bomb had been dropped. They didn’t think much of it until they received word that a second atomic bomb had been dropped and the Japanese had surrendered. In late August Milton’s unit was sent to Seoul, Korea to receive the surrender of the Japanese forces in Korea. Milton and his unit arrived in Inchon, Korea and were sent to Seoul where they were assigned to guard the Bank of Chosin, the Capital Building and the telephone company. When the war ended Milton was part of the Occupation Forces in Korea. In December of 1946 he returned to Fort Sam Houston in Texas where he was discharged from active duty but remain part of the U.S. Reserves as a Staff Sargent.
In January of 1947 Milton attended Southwestern College in Americus and then the University of Georgia where he completed his undergraduate degree before he was recalled by the Army for the Korean War. From September 1950 through December of 1951 Milton was stationed in Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina in Adjunct General’s division of the headquarters headquarters company. He worked in the reception center processing GIs for basic training.
Along the way Milton reconnected with his childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth Perry. “She dropped a handkerchief over me when she was in kindergarten.” Elizabeth had a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a masters in pathology and blood chemistry. They tied the knot in 1951 while Milton was stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.
Milton was discharged as a Staff Sargent First Class and he attended the University of Georgia in 1955 for his Master’s Degree.
Milton initially began his career as a teaching principal. He was looking for something more and took a job in educational publishing with Scott Foresmann & Company. “You probably learned to read with Dick, Jane and Sally. They were my kids. They sent my children to school.” He started as a sales rep and moved up to the manager for the Atlanta area and then later promoted to Vice President for the southeastern states. He had a 30-year career and retired at the age of 60. In retirement Milton and Elizabeth traveled extensively through Europe, the United States and Canada. After 69 years of marriage and two children Elizabeth passed away in 2020.
Milton is currently lives in Brevard, NC and is involved with yoga, rides his bicycle, walks each morning, follows the stock market and keeps at least one book going. “I’ve had a full life.”
“I think about my mother having four sons-in-law in service, three sons in service, two daughters in service. She’d been through World War I with her two brothers in World War I.”
“We were all in it. We were all patriotic and bought war bonds.” “I just did what everybody else was doing. I joined.”
“I’m all for patriotism. I love my country. It bothers me that we’re so divided. In World War II everybody was involved. There was no salary raises, prices were frozen. We’ve gotten selfish, each going our own way today.”
“We need to mend our fences and love our country and defend democracy. You can quote me on that. I feel pretty strongly about that.”
Milton, thanks for saving the world from the Axis powers. And let’s not forget about your time serving in the Korean War. You were, as you like to say, “a double dipper.”