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Conway...Michael Kelly Fitch, age 92, of Main Street, went home to be with the Lord on Thursday, October 13, 2011. Mr. Fitch was born in Lake City, a son of the late Hosea Wilson and Frances Grooms Fitch. He was a member of First Baptist Church and recently retired as Building and Grounds Superintendant. Mr. Fitch was educated in the Florence County Schools and attended Georgia Military Academy. He lived in Lake City until G.T.E. transferred him to Myrtle Beach in 1990. Mike retired from G.T.E. after 53 years of service and received several degrees in Telephone Communications. He was a member of the Lake City Volunteer Fire Department for 25 years and he and a friend organized the Lower Florence County Rescue Squad in 1955. Mr. Fitch was a special Deputy with the Florence County Sheriff's Office from 1957 - 1969. 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. 5th Infantry Division's 11th 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. 29th Infantry Division's 116th 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 11th 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. Surviving are his wife of 35 years, Wilma Cooper Richardson Fitch of Conway, one daughter, Carla Richardson of Conway, two step-sons, Rev. William Alan Richardson of Conway and Carl Preston Richardson of Myrtle Beach, four step-grandchildren, Melissa Richardson, Dixie Porter (Monty) Alan Richardson (Kecia), and Elizabeth Cole (John), eight grandchildren, Amanda Nealy Coker, Melissa Karoline Jones, David Landon Jones, Savannah Jane Porter, Charleston Marie Porter, Kennedy Nicole Richardson, Elizabeth Alan Richardson and Lily Faye Richardson, three great-great-grandchildren and a very special friend, Patricia Campbell of Northern Ireland. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM Monday at First Baptist Church with Rev. J. Anderson Bass, Jr., Dr. Robert Guffey, Rod Gragg, Mitch Godwin and Melissa Richardson officiating. Burial will follow in Hillcrest Cemetery directed by Goldfinch Funeral Home, Conway Chapel. The family will receive friends from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM Sunday at the funeral home. Memorials may be sent to DAV Chapter 57, P.O. Box 1195, Conway, SC 29528. Sign a guestbook at www.goldfinchfuneralhome.com Goldfinch Funeral Home, Conway Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

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Michael Fitch

December 17, 1918 - October 13, 2011