Decorated WWII Hero Buried In Orchard Cemetery

By Natalie Bruzon
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A decorated Air Force pilot and one of Antelope County's last remaining World War II veterans was laid to rest on Monday at the Orchard Cemetery.

Robert Bruce Fletcher was a 1940 Orchard graduate and recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest military award given out. His family was on hand for the small but emotional military service that featured not only American Legion representatives but also current members of the military.

Following high school graduation, Fletcher attended Doane College, now Doane University, in Crete. 

“When the war broke out, he left school and went to flight training,” said his son Greg Fletcher, who from Oklahoma for the service. “He became a flight instructor in what they called the CPT, Civilian Pilot Training Program.”

Soon after, the government realized they needed more pilots for the war and contracted independent flight schools to train military pilots. Fletcher instructed pilots for the Army for a couple years before enlisting in the Air Force himself.

“His first assignment was what they call a ferry command,” explained Fletcher.

Pilots on ferry command would every airplane available in the military at that time around the United States to different delivery points to be shipped overseas.

In 1944, however, it was Bruce Fletcher who was shipped overseas.

“I believe it was in mid-1944 when he was shipped overseas,” said Greg Fletcher. “They gave him an airplane and said, ‘Fly this airplane to India,’ and that’s where he spent the war. He flew supplies from India to Burma and then to China.”

The pilots jokingly called the Himalayan Mountains “The Hump,” which earned them the title of “Hump Pilots.” Later on, this was proven to be a treacherous route to fly due to unstable weather.

Besides the Distinguished Service Cross, he received two bronze stars and the air medal. 

“He never talked about it, but I was pretty proud of that,” said Fletcher. “He (Bruce Fletcher) said, ‘Oh, they give them to everybody.’ Well, no they didn’t.”

After the war, Bruce Fletcher eventually moved his family back to Orchard, where they farmed on the Fletcher farm three miles west of town.

In 1988, Bruce and his wife Zatha retired to Arizona. Zatha Fletcher passed away in 2009, and Bruce had recently relocated to Grove, Okla., with his son Greg, where he lived until his passing on December 20, 2015.

Before his death, Bruce Fletcher’s directive was to be cremated like his wife and buried in the family plot in Orchard Cemetery.

His children and other family, who no longer live in Orchard, traveled from various parts of the United States to attend the burial this week.

Bruce Fletcher’s grandson, son of Bruce and Zatha Fletcher’s oldest daughter Christine, serves in the Naval Reserve and lead  the burial service.

He began the service by reading a poem popular amongst air force veterans, called "High Flight" by John Magee. Two servicemen from Columbus also attended the military burial and performed the flag ceremony.

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