He was born on April 8, 1915 in Havana, Florida and attended Leon High School and worked to help his family by farming. In his senior year, he was president of the boy's section of the graduating class of 1935. After graduation, the great depression of the 1930's was still going on and jobs were scarce, so he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and worked digging fire lines in the national forests in Florida.
He was sent to California as company clerk and later as Mess Chief to work in the Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park, where again, fire lines were being dug.
From March 1940 to the end of World War II, he served in the U.S. Army and trained with the 8th Infantry Division at Fort Jackson, SC in 1940 and 1941, where he met Virginia Shirer of Lane, SC. They were married in February 1942.
In March 1942, he was transferred to the newly activated 77th Infantry Division. He remained with the 77th Infantry through the training phases in the U.S. and Hawaii, and through combat phases in Guam in the summer of 1944, the island of Leyte in the Philippines in the winter of 1944, and the Island of Okinawa in the spring of 1945.
When the war ended, the 77th was assigned duty as occupation force in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. After the war, while attending classes at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Ga., he joined the Georgia Air National Guard at Dobbins AFB, Ga. When the Korean War broke out, the 32nd Fighter Interceptor Wing was activated on October 1, 1950.He retired from the Air Force on October of 1968 after 28 years of military service.
One of his greatest joys came from a hobby he took up in his 70's, when he became a very skilled woodturner and for many years belonged to the North Florida Woodturners. He was unfailing in his love for his family and his wife, Virginia, whom he was married to for 72 years.
As a member of Saint Paul's United Methodist Church, he served as a treasurer for 18 years and was in the W.D. Gray Sunday school class for 45 years. His father had been a Methodist minister and a farmer.
He is predeceased by his parents William F. and Anna Goodwin Fletcher, brother William F. Fletcher, Jr., sisters Emily Ellerbee and Mary Francis Lutterell. He is survived by his wife, Virginia Shirer Fletcher, brother Monroe E. Fletcher of Tallahassee, sister Beulah Ann Boozer of Conyers, Georgia, daughters Mary Ann Brown (William Dayton) and Gwendolyn Alcus of Tallahassee, granddaughters Pamela Brown (Daniel Govea) of Havana FL, Patricia Brown (Eric Brumby) of Tallahassee, Paul Stuart Alcus (Maria Porta) of Los Angeles, CA, great granddaughters Brandy Cavanaugh of Tallahassee, Sienna Porta Alcus of Los Angeles, CA, and his great-great grandson Sam Cavanaugh of Tallahassee, as well as many nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held at 1 pm on Friday October 10th, 2014 with a funeral service to follow at 2pm at the Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home, 700 Timberlane Road Tallahassee.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Saint Paul's United Methodist Church, 1700 N. Meridian Road, Tallahassee, Florida or to Big Bend Hospice, 1723 Mahan Center Boulevard, Tallahassee, Florida.
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