Mike Fitch

WWII hero and one of the stars of 'The Americans on D-Day',

buried with full military honors.

Sgt. Mike Fitch, World War II

 

Mike Fitch, from Conway S.C has passed away at the age of 92. He was a Sergeant in the 29th Infantry Division on D-Day. He came ashore on Omaha beach in full glare of the German machine gunners. His sector 'Charlie' was one of the murderous killing zones on that fateful morning. His harrowing testimony in The Americans on D-Day, sends chills down the spine. When the remnants of the 29th finally managed to get of the beach and on to the High ground, Mike came face to face with his first German and although stunned, he killed him. He averaged one kill a day for the remainder of the war.

 

Mike's Service Record.

Mr. Fitch was a decorated World War II veteran, who enlisted in the U.S. Army in August of 1941,  and served primarily in the European Theater of Operations, rising to the rank of technical sergeant  in an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon of the U.S. 5^th Infantry Division’s 11^th Infantry Regiment.  In Operation Overlord, the 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, France, he served in a two-man intelligence and reconnaissance team, which was attached to the U.S. 29^th Infantry Division’s 116^th Regimental Combat Team. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he landed in the second assault wave on Charlie Sector of Omaha Beach, where American casualties were among the highest of D-Day.  On “Bloody Omaha,” he and his recon team were  instrumental in destroying  WN-73,  a deadly German artillery and machinegun installation overlooking the right flank of Omaha Beach.

Afterwards, he was engaged in the Normandy Campaign, the Battle of the Bulge and in the final Allied offensive against Nazi Germany, ending the war in Czechoslovakia. From the summer of 1944, through the duration of the war, he served in advance of American front lines in reconnaissance and intelligence operations and as a U.S. Army sniper, and was repeatedly engaged in combat. On several occasions, when the 11^th Infantry Regiment was serving in the U.S. Third Army, he was detached as an intelligence operative to serve as a driver for General George Patton. A former civilian pilot, he was trained as a U.S. fighter pilot while posted to Iceland in 1943, and in late 1944, he briefly held a temporary duty assignment as a P-51 pilot until injured by enemy anti-aircraft fire.

For his services in World War II, Mr. Fitch was awarded the Sharpshooter Medal, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, two Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the French Croix de Guerre.

Obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/myrtlebeachonline/obituary.aspx?n=mike-fitch&pid=154084563