Fields, Eugene P.

Fields marker at Riverside Cemetery, Geneva, Indiana (findagrave.com)

EUGENE PARKS FIELDS

CAPTAIN

U.S. ARMY

Eugene Parks Fields was born 9 May 1908 in Montpelier, Indiana. His parents were Charles E. Fields and Emma Gertrude (Thorp) Fields. He had an older brother named Harold T. Fields and they lived most of their lives in Geneva, Indiana. On May 29, 1931, Eugene married Margaret C. Parr. Later they had a daughter, born February 14, 1940, named Nancy. She later married James Kretzschmar, becoming Nancy L. (Fields) Kretzschmar, and they had a son and a daughter. Eugene attended Geneva High School and graduated in 1926. After high school he went to Indiana University and became a Dentist. He worked in Decatur as a Dentist, and many of his friends called him "Ted".

Eugene joined the Officer Reserve Corps on August 1, 1941, serving in the Army Medical detachment as a Dentist. He was put on active duty on 31 July 1941 as a 1st Lieutenant. His service number was 333891. Lt. Fields trained with the 23rd Division at Fort McClellan, Alabama and Camp McQuaid, California. Then the 35th Division at Camp Rucker, Alabama. Going on to the 47th Division at Camp Gruber Oklahoma. And lastly, he trained with the 124th Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas. Eugene was sent overseas on July 1, 1944. He was a Captain, and worked as a Dentist in the Medical Detachment. His unit was sent to Burma, India to retake North Burma.

While traveling in a jeep down the Myitkyina-Suprabum Road in Burma, Capt. Fields was killed by a "wild shot fired by a soldier, either temporarily crazed by front line fighting or actually insane" according to an article in the May 15, Decatur Daily Democrat. A group of American enlisted soldiers were walking down the same road when they asked Captain Fields and two other officers in the jeep for a lift. When the jeep did not stop, the soldier "raised his rifle and blazed away". A bullet struck Fields in the back severing an artery. Capt. Fields was moved to a hospital to be treated, and died on 16 November 1944. The soldier was quickly placed under arrest and charged with murder.

Capt. Fields was temporarily interred in an American Military Cemetery in India with full military honors. He was well known in his unit, and his remains were escorted by all members of the Detachment, who voluntarily marched 14 miles after a hard day of training in order to pay their respects and say goodbye.

Captain Fields is now interred at Riverside Cemetery in Geneva, Indiana. In Geneva, Fields Memorial Park was created with the family's name. Eugene's father inherited a 12 acre plot of land, which he farmed. When he grew old he planted trees in it, and after Charles and his two sons passed, the family felt that it was fitting to turn the 12 acres of land into a park in their names. The park used to sit in the southeast part of Geneva, off Williams Street. Because of flooding, however, it has been moved to just off of South Adams Trail in Geneva.

His wife, Margaret, remarried in 1946 to Robert Lambert. Robert had served in Patton's 3rd Army in Europe as an ambulance driver in the 106th Cavalry Reconnaissance Unit. Tragically though, he was killed in a single vehicle accident north of Decatur on February 25, 1945.

For his service, Capt. Fields was awarded the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal.

Information researched and collected by Alyssa Grothaus, 2015.

SOURCES

Indiana Historical Bureau, comp. Gold Star Honor Roll: Adams County. Bloomington: Indiana

War History Commission, 1949. Print. Vol. 1 of Indiana in World War II.

“Capt. Fields is War Casualty in Asiatic Theatre.” The Berne Witness [Berne] 11 Dec. 1944: n. pag. Print.

“Fields Family Tree.” N.d. Ancestry. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Article Hale, Richard. "The Mars Task Force." World War II Cronicles Sept. 2005: 17-23.Print.

Heller, Dick D., Jr., ed. 1979 History of Adams County, Indiana. N.p.: Adams County Historical Society, Inc., 1980. Print.