[1][2][3] Fisher began crawling toward the machine gun with several hand grenades when he was shot through his shoulder and then his chest in quick succession.
[2][3] At the conclusion of the Inchon-Seoul campaign, the entire 1st Marine Division embarked on Navy ships, which sailed around South Korea and landed at Wonsan in October.
As the Marines arrived at Chosin Reservoir, the Chinese Communist military encircled the entire division and the coldest winter in 50 years descended on Korea.
[1][2][3] At one point during the night, the Chinese penetrated the perimeter of 3rd Platoon and Fisher led a counterattack and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
With his company position under heavy attack by a numerically superior and fanatical enemy force estimated at more than regimental strength, First Lieutenant Fisher repeatedly exposed himself to a terrific hail of shattering hostile machine-gun, grenade, mortar, artillery and small-arms fire in order to move along the full length of his lines and re-deploy his men.
Throughout the fierce eight-hour onslaught carried out at near-zero temperatures by wave upon wave of enemy troops operating under cover of darkness and a heavy snowfall, he continued to direct his troops in repulsing assault after assault, lending them words of encouragement and personally spotting accurate mortar fire upon hostile positions.
By his superb leadership and cool courage in the face of overwhelming odds, First Lieutenant Fisher served to inspire his gallant men to heroic efforts in repulsing several vicious onslaughts by a resolute enemy, thus insuring the defense of a large segment of a perimeter vital to the welfare of the entire corps at that time.
At the change of command ceremony at Kāneʻohe Bay, Fisher called his new battalion his "Magnificent Bastards," a nickname which has stuck to 2/4.
On August 18, 1965, Lieutenant Colonel Fisher led his battalion in a helicopter assault near Van Tuong, commencing Operation Starlite.
Joseph R. Fisher died of a heart attack while playing golf on January 19, 1981, in Whispering Pines, North Carolina.