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Collection Veterans History Project Collection

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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: Korean War, 1950-1953
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: Military Police
  • Location of Service: Okinawa, Japan; Germany; Italy
  • Highest Rank: Specialist Four

View full service history

“I was driving down Route 40, and a policeman stopped me. And the first word he said [was], ‘Get out of that car, boy.’” (Video interview, part one, 12:24).

Almost a century after his Cherokee grandfather shortened his name from Kingfisher to Fisher upon joining the Navy in 1861, Donald Fisher was drafted into the Army and trained as a Military Policeman. He spent the Korean War guarding a US general, before transferring to Germany, where he befriended Elvis Presley. After seventeen years’ service, repeated denials of promotion, and suspicion toward his Japanese wife, he took an honorable discharge in 1967.

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About this Item

Title

  • Donald E. Fisher Collection

Names

  • National Association of African-American Studies
  • Trott, Wendy
  • Fisher, Donald E.
  • Berry, Lemuel

State of Birth

  • RI

Home State

  • RI

Headings

  • -  Fisher, Donald E.
  • -  Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Notes

  • -  The veteran's biographical form lists race/ethnicity as "Wampanoag."

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • American Indian and Alaskan Native

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • Korean War, 1950-1953

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: Military Police
    • Location of Service: Okinawa, Japan; Germany; Italy
    • Highest Rank: Specialist Four
    • Dates of Service: 1950-1967
    • Entrance into Service: Drafted
    • Military Status: Veteran

Materials

  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 03/21/2014)
  • Video: DVD [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 03/21/2014)
  • Photograph: Copy photographic print [2 items] -- Photograph (collected 1978)
  • Photograph: Photocopy of photographic print [3 items] -- Photograph (collected unknown)
  • Computer File: CD [1 item] -- Electronic file of photograph (collected unknown)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/95625

Cite as

  • Donald E. Fisher Collection (AFC/2001/001/95625), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

National Association Of African-American Studies, Wendy Trott, Donald E Fisher, and Lemuel Berry. Donald E. Fisher Collection. 1950. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.95625/.

APA citation style:

National Association Of African-American Studies, Trott, W., Fisher, D. E. & Berry, L. (1950) Donald E. Fisher Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.95625/.

MLA citation style:

National Association Of African-American Studies, et al. Donald E. Fisher Collection. 1950. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.95625/>.