PONTOTOC Major Zane W. Fields Sr., 74, died Friday, Nov. 29, 1996, at the Pontotoc Hospital after an extended illness.

   He retired after 20 years of service from the U.S. Army. In World War II he served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He also was a veteran of the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

   Services will be at 2 p.m. today at the Browning Funeral Home Chapel with the Rev. Ken Corley and the Rev. James Lewis officiating. Burial will be in the Ecru City Cemetery.

   Survivors include his wife, Doris Purdon Fields of Pontotoc; one daughter, Kay Fields Cook of Germantown, Tenn.; three sons, Frank Fields of Pontotoc, David Fields of Cordova, Tenn., and Zane Fields of Bartlett, Tenn.; one sister, Flaine Bost of Starkville; one foster sister, Ravenna Walden of Dallas, Texas; five grandchildren.

   He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Mamie Fields.

   Pallbearers will be Danny Weatherly, Ted Foster, Terry Donaldson, Buddy Eubank, Charles Thomas and James L. Roberts Jr. Honorary pallbearers will be the Men’s Bible Class of the First United Methodist Church. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. and last until service time.
 

Grave marker for Zane W. Fields in Ecru Cemetery, Ecru (Pontotoc county), Mississippi.

Zane enlisted in the army at Camp Shelby, MS on 11 May 1942.

On 19 November 1942, Pvt Fields was transferred from the Reception Center, Camp Shelby, MS to Company G, 508th PIR.

Pvt Fields attended Demolition School at Fort Benning, GA from 1 May to 14 May, 1943 and was promoted to Pfc shortly thereafter.

He was promoted to Cpl on 21 July 1944 and subsequently to Sgt on 1 October 1944.

On 21 November 1944 he was hospitalized and did not return to the regiment.

He was discharged on 19 December 1947 but received a commission and retired as a Major on 31 December 1963.