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Larry Dale Fernatt
Larry Dale Fernatt was born May 23, 1941, at home in Standard, West Virginia. His parents were Ceif and Clara Fernatt. His father was a coal miner, as were his two brothers. His mo...view moreLarry Dale Fernatt was born May 23, 1941, at home in Standard, West Virginia. His parents were Ceif and Clara Fernatt. His father was a coal miner, as were his two brothers. His mother was well-known for praying long, meaningful prayers throughout the coal camp. He and his mother were very close.
He served in the US Marines and the US Army. While in the army, he fought in Vietnam and was injured to the point of death, spent nearly three years recovering in Walter Reed Hospital. He received a purple heart and a silver star for his bravery in Vietnam. He was released in October of 1968 with 80 percent disability. He went to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He studied there to become an air craft mechanic. He graduated from Embry Riddle in 1971. He then returned to West Virginia determined to find a job using his new skills.
He went to work in the coal mines in 1971, late summer. He was injured very badly in August 1975 when a large piece of kettlebottom fell from the roof of the mine. A voice had told him to “to get up and turn around,” an action that saved his life. There was no one around. He had been alone in that area of the mine. Had he not turned around, the kettlebottom would have crushed him.
He went on later to become a postmaster and after sixteen years with USPS, he retired in 1999 due to a blood allergy caused from “agent orange” exposure.
In 2014, at seventy-three he was convicted of three felonies that caused him to be sentenced to forty years in prison with a chance of parole in twenty years.
This is his story.view less