I, Uriah J. Fields, was born during the Great Depression to my parents Henry Harold Fields and Amanda Fendley Fields of Sunflower, Alabama. I attended the Fields School the first eight years of my schooling. The Fields School was named for my paternal Grandfather Benjamin Franklin Fields,(born during slavery) a founder of the Fields School.
    I gaduated from the McIntosh Union High School one month after my seventeenth birthday. Four days before my eighteenth birthday I enlisted for three years in the Army.
    I received basic training in a segregated Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey. After basic training I served in the Mechanized Calvary at Fort Meade, Maryland. Although President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948, integrating the Armed Forces, respudiating the170 years of officially sanctioned discrimination, approximately four months after I enlisted in the Army, it would be two years after that Executive Order was issued before I was assisgned to an integrated unit of the Army. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Omar N. Bradley, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, had urged Truman to not integrate the Armed Forces, citing that it would be bad for the morale of both black and white soldiers. Thank God  that Truman, in his seff-assertive style, responded to these Generals asserting, "The buck stops here!"
     In 1950 at the beginning of the Korean War I was transferred to the newly reactivated 101st Airborne and assisgned to the the 49th Abn. Engr. Bn., a section of the 101st Airborne. The 101st Airborne was reactivated following the outbreak of the Korean War to serve as a Training Center, primariy for draftees, at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky.
    
Military Service Schools Fields Attended
I & E (Informatoon and Edcation School 1949, Instructor,
Fort Meade
Projection School, 1949, Projectionist, Fort Meade
Clerk School, 1950, Clerk-Typist, Fort Lee, Virginia

Chaplain Assistant
     Before becoming a Chaplain Assistant for several months
I was a day room orderly. Soldiers came to the day room to relax, read, play pool, etc. Sometimes I placed one end of a string on a news event located on a table and the other end of the string on the map located on the wall. I recall there was a soldier who was only interested in what was happening in New York.
     Nearly two-third of my time in the Miitary, excluding the time I spent attrnding Military Schools, I was a Chaplain Assistant for about two years for two African American Chaplains serving in segregated units and a year and a half I was Chaplain Assistant for three Caucasian Chaplains in and integrated battallion. These Caucasian Chaplains had reenlisted in the Army after the Korean War began. I experienced cordial relations with four of these Chaplains. One of these Caucasian Chaplains attempted unsuccessfully to replace me with a Chaplain Assistant I had trained who was from his home State of Ohio.
     The Chaplain Assistant provides adminstrative, logistical, and even moral support to the Chaplain. He also provides protection for the Chaplain who does not carry a weapon, helping him to be free to focus on the troops' spiritual needs. The Chaplain Assistant coordinates religious observance requirements, helps formulate plans for worship services, prepare and maintain religious accoutrements, facilities, and equipment.
     I, Uriah J Fields, was discharged from the Army on April 1, 1952 after serving three years of voluntsry service and one year of involuntary service in the Army. I consider myself to have been fortunate to serve four years in the Army, even though when I graduated from high School I wanted to go to college but I did not have adequate finances, not to enlist in the Army. Enlsting in the rmy was one of the best decsions I ever made. I learned a lot while in the Army that empowered me to be productive upon returning to civilian life. Yes, the GI Bill that proided me with the fnancial support that enabled me to earn the Bachelors of Science Degree and the Masters of  Education Degree from Alabama State College  (now Univesity). Had I not enlisted in the Army in 1948, I would have been drafted in 1950.
     I cannot close this Autobiographical Sketch of my Life in the Military without giving my heart-felt thanks to my mother Amanda Fendley Fields, my father Henry Harold Fields, my first and only schools teacher for eight years, Clara B. Fields, and my paternal grandfather Benjamin Franklin Fields. They bequeathed to me "something" that has  enabled me to serve and benefit from my Military service and much more.
     To read "Uriah J. Fields Biography" visit: uriahfields.com/gpage45.html.
     And now, a nonagenarian, my final word on this subject is: "To God be the glory!"