{"id":278618,"date":"2021-06-19T03:02:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-19T00:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/black-world-war-ii-vet-awarded-purple-heart-after-being-overlooked-due-to-race\/"},"modified":"2021-06-19T03:02:07","modified_gmt":"2021-06-19T00:02:07","slug":"black-world-war-ii-vet-awarded-purple-heart-after-being-overlooked-due-to-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/black-world-war-ii-vet-awarded-purple-heart-after-being-overlooked-due-to-race\/","title":{"rendered":"#Black World War II vet awarded Purple Heart after being overlooked due to race"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Black World War II vet awarded Purple Heart after being overlooked due to race<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

A 99-year-old black World War II vet was finally awarded a Purple Heart in Brooklyn Friday \u2014 more than seven decades\u00a0after he was \u201coverlooked\u201d because of racial inequalities,\u00a0 Army officials said Friday.<\/p>\n

At the tear-jerking ceremony, former private Ozzie Fletcher, of Brooklyn, was given the decorative medal for wounds he suffered during the bloody Battle of Normandy in 1944.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has spent his entire life giving to those around him whether they were brothers in arms, families, or his community. Well, today it\u2019s Ozzie\u2019s turn to receive,\u201d Gen. James McConville said at the Fort Hamilton Army base.<\/p>\n

Fletcher, who served with the 254th Port Battalion, was working as a crane operator on D-Day when he was hit by a German missile that left him with leg injuries and a head gash that scarred him permanently.<\/p>\n

\"The
Gen. James C. McConville presents the Purple Heart to World War II veteran Ozzie Fletcher.<\/figcaption>
Stephen Yang<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"NYPD
NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea congratulates Ozzie Fletcher.<\/figcaption>
Stephen Yang<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fletcher
Fletcher served with the 254th Port Battalion during WWII.<\/figcaption>
Stephen Yang<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re leaving the shoreline,\u201d Fletcher recalled. \u201cWe\u2019re leaving the water. And we\u2019re going into the forest. We had heard about the Germans setting off missiles the size of asteroids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething, a missile, hit [our] tractor,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was an awful day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The then 22-year-old soldier was\u00a0forced to trudge through the English Channel covered in blood, McConville said.<\/p>\n

\"Fletcher
Fletcher was struck by a German missile during D-Day.<\/figcaption>
Stephen Yang<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The missile left Fletcher with an injured leg and head.<\/figcaption>
Stephen Yang<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cHe had to wade through the surf, not even realizing that his legs were cut and bleeding from all of the debris left in the water after the initial battle,\u201d McConville said.<\/p>\n

The Army began a fact-finding mission \u2014 which\u00a0 included testimony and historical\u00a0 research \u2014 about the nonagenarian\u2019s overlooked medal after his daughter, Jacqueline Streets, contacted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and found he deserved the award, according to Army.mil<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy father has a gash in his head that we can still see. And we can see he was hurt. And obviously he was doing the job of an American soldier. And I do believe he was overlooked,\u201d Streets said Friday. \u201cWe\u2019re finally looking at all of our soldiers in the same way, America is trying to shift its thinking about culture and about race and I app<\/a>reciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gen.
Gen. James C. McConville described Fletcher\u2019s heroism during the event. <\/figcaption>
Stephen Yang<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"McConville
McConville added that Fletcher has had a history of giving and it was time for him to receive for his contributions. <\/figcaption>
Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re acknowledging things that happened in the past and trying to correct them moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how it felt to be awarded a Purple Heart, Fletcher said, \u201cI\u2019m exhilarated.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Black World War II vet awarded Purple Heart after being overlooked due to race” A 99-year-old black World War II vet was finally awarded a Purple Heart in Brooklyn Friday \u2014 more than seven decades\u00a0after he was \u201coverlooked\u201d because of racial inequalities,\u00a0 Army officials said Friday. At the tear-jerking ceremony, former private Ozzie Fletcher, of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":278619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/ozzie-fletcher-purple-heart-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[109769,71173,89669,70580,71589],"class_list":["post-278618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-6-18-21","tag-army","tag-purple-heart","tag-veterans","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}