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| Idaho
Governor Butch Otter looks on as Medal
of Honor recipient Bernie Fisher
addresses those gathered for the signing
of Senate Bill 1050 |
On March 10, Idaho Governor Butch Otter, Senator
John Goedde and other North Idaho legislators
gathered in Boise for the signing of Senate Bill
1050, designating Idaho State Highway 3, a
117-mile north-south route connecting U.S. 12
near Spalding with I-90 near Rose Lake, as the
North Idaho Medal of Honor Highway.
"With the recent passing of
Vernon Baker from St. Maries," the Senate wrote,
"it is an appropriate time to recognize the
exceptional valor displayed by recipients of our
nation's highest honor."
Medal of Honor recipient
retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Bernie
Fisher, Kuna, Idaho, attended the signing.
Idaho is home to many whose
bravery and valor in combat resulted in the
bestowing of the Medal of Honor. In World War I,
Thomas C. Neibaur became both the first
Latter-day Saint and the first Idahoan to
receive the Medal of Honor. He enlisted in the
Idaho National Guard March 30, 1917, one week
before the U.S. declared war on Germany.
On October 16, 1918,
American Forces captured Cote de Chatillon,
France, though several pockets of German units
remained, along with several isolated enemy
machine gun positions. Neibaur and two other
soldiers volunteered to flank and remove a
network of machine gun nests. Crawling up
between two spurs, the rifle team encountered a
wire obstacle and began taking fire. His two
companions were killed and Neibaur was wounded
three times in his right thigh. He managed to
cross the obstacle and position his automatic
rifle behind a dirt berm, but he was spotted and
attacked by about 50 German soldiers. He opened
fire, killing or wounding most of them until his
rifle jammed.
Discarding his rifle, he
tried to run and crawl the hundred yards to
friendly lines when he was wounded a fourth time
in the hip, and he fell unconscious. Awakening,
he found himself captured by 15 or so survivors
of the German element that had attacked him. Due
to covering fire from Neibaur's M Company, the
Germans had to take cover, and Neibaur noticed
that one of them dropped his pistol. As he
crawled to it, he was again charged by Germans
wielding bayonets, but he managed to grab the
pistol, kill four and capture 11, who he then
led to American lines despite his wounds.
Private Neibuar spent
months in field hosptials recovering from his
wounds, and carried the last bullet to hit him
for the rest of his life. He died December 23,
1942.
During World War II, Army
Private First Class Leonard C. Brostrom,
Preston, Army Private First Class William K.
Nakamura, Hunt, a Japanese-American who had
earlier been confined to an intern camp in
Minidoka before enlisting to serve his country
and who died July 4, 1944, providing covering
fire to allow his unit's safe withdrawal from
heavy machine gun fire in Castellina, Italy, and
Army Private Nathan K. Van Noy Jr., also of
Preston, were each awarded the Medal of Honor
posthumously. Army Technician First Class Robert
Dale Maxwell, Boise, Marine Colonel Gregory
"Pappy" Boyington, Coeur d'Alene, and Army
Private Lloyd G. McCarter, St. Maries, each
survived to recieve the Medal of Honor.
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| Vernon Baker
receiving his belated Medal of Honor
from President Bill Clinton in 1997. |
Another Idahoan, Army Lieutenant Vernon Baker,
St. Maries, who on April 5 and 6, 1945, led his
platoon killed 26 enemy soldiers and destroyed
six machine gun nests, two observer posts and
four dugouts in the mountains near Vieareggio,
Italy, had to wait 53 years to receive his Medal
of Honor. He was the only living black soldier
of seven Medals of Honor when President Bill
Clinton belatedly bestowed them on January 13,
1997. Baker died at the age of 90 July 13, 2010.
During the Korean War,
Idahoans Army Sergeant David Bruce Bleak,
Shelley, Marine Private First Class Herbert A.
Littleton, Nampa, Marine Colonel Reginald R.
Myers, Boise, and Army Corporal Dan D.
Schoonover, Boise, who died at the second battle
of Pork Chop Hill, and Marine Sergeant James
Edmond Johnson, Pocatello, received Medals of
Honor.
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| Air Force
Colonel Bernard Francis Fisher |
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Francis
Fisher is the only Idahoan to have been bestowed
the Medal of Honor for service in Viet Nam, for
leading a two-ship element of A-1 Skyraiders to
the A Shau Valley on March 10, 1966, to support
ground troops in contact with the enemy. The A-1
piloted by Major D.W. "Jump" Myers was hit and
forced to crash land on an air strip near a
Special Forces camp, bellying in.
He was able to escape the
downed aircraft and take cover, and Fisher,
realizing that the closest helicopter was over
half an hour away while enemy soldiers were
closing in on Myer's position from only 200
yards away, landed his two seater near his
friend while two other A-1s provided cover.
Fisher taxied to Myer's
position, loaded the downed airman in the empty
back seat and was able to dodge shell holes and
debris in the runway to safely take off, despite
being hit multiple times by small arms fire.
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| Fisher and
"Jump" Myers shortly after the rescue. |
He is the first living Air Force Medal of Honor
recipient, all others having been awarded
posthumously, and the first member of the U.S.
Air Force to be awarded the Medal of Honor
during the Vietnam War.
He was presented the Medal
of Honor by President Lyndon Johnson on January
19, 1967.
Under the new designation,
the Idaho Transportation Department will be
erecting special signs along the North Idaho
Medal of Honor Highway to honor these Idahoans
for their service to our nation in its armed
forces.
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