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16012 Shelton, Fields Early
July 11, 1924 - May 13, 1992

usma1946-H2

 

 MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly May '93

Fields Early Shelton No.16012 Class of 1946
Died 13 May 1992 in Killeen, Texas, aged 67 years. Interment: Killeen Memorial Park, Killeen, Texas.

Fields Early Shelton always wanted his family and friends to call him Bill. Born in Ironton, Ohio on 11 July 1924, he moved several times as a child before his father, a railroad man, settled in Covington, Kentucky. At Holmes High School in Covington, Bill was on the track team and captained the basketball team his senior year. He also was president of his senior class. His parents felt strongly about education, and his mother especially wanted him to get the best education possible. That led to his efforts to obtain an appointment to West Point. After graduation from high school, Bill attended Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky, while he took the exams for West Point. He was elated when he received his appointment and joined the Class of 1946 on the banks of the Hudson on 1 July 1943.

Life as a cadet had its ups and downs for Bill. He had no trouble with academics but seemed to keep running afoul of the tacs. His roommate for their entire cadet time, Robert K. Swab, provided these remarks: "In plebe year, both of us were tall, skinny kids who were, for the most part, just part of the crowd. Old snapshots show that we looked like two Ninja Turtles peeking out from under the steel helmets we were issued... On the second day of Beast Barracks, Bill and I held a conference at which we decided that in order to survive, we shouldn't treat all the 'hazing' so seriously. I am afraid we both paid the price for openly recognizing the humor in some of the situations which arose, but we did survive to become a couple of laid back flankers in the runt platoon of H-2 Company. We were so alike in so many ways that we were often referred to as 'The Gold Dust Twins.' Bill had a wonderful sense of humor, and we enjoyed a good many laughs together. He was one of the most genuinely friendly men I have every known, and he had no trace of insincerity. While we both had our problems with the Tactical Department, Bill was much the better scholar, and I am sure it was through his coaching that I managed to eke through. Our plebe roommate was 'found' at Christmas, and we had no roommate first class year. I believe that our roommate yearling year was afraid our problems with the Tactical Department were contagious, so he (no doubt along with everyone else) opted out. So, we were alone for half our cadet experience."

Bill chose to enter the Air Cadet Program the spring of yearling year and successfully completed basic flight training before voluntarily leaving the program. When graduation came, Bill pinned on the gold bars as a second lieutenant of Infantry.

Following graduation, Bill received basic infantry schooling at Fort Benning, Georgia. He married Mary M. Riley in Columbus, Georgia on 21 December 1946. Shortly after the Korean War started in June of 1950, he was assigned to the 31st Regiment, 7th Infantry Division and landed at Inchon with his regiment. When the 7th Division landed on the east coast of Korea in late October 1950 with orders to march to the Yalu River, Bill was company commander, Heavy Mortar Company of the 31st Infantry. His unit was assigned to the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), also known as Task Force McLean, when it was ordered to relieve the Marines on the eastern shore of the Chosin Reservoir. Thus Bill Shelton became involved in one of the more tragic stories in American history. As described by Roy E. Appleman in his book, East of Chosin, that story concerns "an Army force of about 3,000 men, of near regimental size, hastily assembled to protect the east flank of the 1st Marine Division at Chosin. They fought a battle that lasted four days and five nights in late November and early December 1950. The place was a 10 mile stretch of frozen, snow covered dirt road on the east side of Chosin Reservoir, the adjacent bleak hills and ridges that rose precipitously from the water's edge, and the frozen marshy inlet valleys that drain westward from the eastern mountains through these ridges to the reservoir, The weather in winter is Siberian, with night temperatures that reach minus 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Winter darkness comes early to this land; in late November and early December at about 4:30 PM, Daybreak comes late, at 7:30 to 8:00 AM." The battle started on the night of 27 November 1950 when a Chinese division attacked the 31st RCT. The commander, Colonel McLean, was captured the next day and command was assumed by Lieutenant Colonel Don Faith. After four days of heavy lighting, the remnants of the RCT, now known as Task Force Faith, attempted to break out of its encircled position. The breakout was stopped by Chinese forces on the road to the southern end of the Chosin. In Clay Blair's The Forgotten War Bill Shelton's efforts are described: "At that moment a lone CCF soldier, hiding in the brush, threw a grenade. Its fragments hit Don Faith above the heart. Mortally wounded, Faith staggered, then fell. West Pointer (1946) Fields E. Shelton, commander of the 31st Infantry Heavy Mortar Company, also wounded by the same grenade, attempted to help Faith to his jeep, but Shelton had no strength. He wrapped the dying Faith in a blanket, laid him on the roadside and went off looking for help." Faith received the Medal of Honor, posthumously, Bill Shelton received the Bronze Star Medal for Valor and the Purple Heart. Bill was one of the lucky ones to survive the Chosin Reservoir campaign.

From Korea, Bill moved back to Fort Benning as an instructor at the Infantry School. His next assignment was as Secretary, General Staff, Headquarters, Fourth Army, San Antonio, Texas. He next attended the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. From there he went to Washington, where he served on the Army Staff, In 1964, Bill commanded 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry, 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas. He and Mary were divorced in 1964. From Hood, Bill traveled to Hawaii, where he was assigned to G-3, Training, US Army Pacific. While in Hawaii, Bill married Beatrice K. Kilishek in 1964. From there Bill was selected to attend the Army War College. Bill returned to Fort Hood, Texas in 1971 to serve as liaison officer for the Army's Test Activities. He and Beatrice were divorced in 1973.

Bill retired from active duty in 1974 and settled in El Paso, Texas, where he earned a Master of Psychology degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. He married Barbara Roberts in 1974 in El Paso and practiced psychotherapy in El Paso from 1976 to 1979. In 1979, he became Deputy Director and Senior Instructor for the New Mexico Policy Academy. In 1983, Bill owned and operated a 6,000 acre cattle ranch in Clovis, New Mexico. His ranch included 1,000 acres of farm land. In 1986, Bill and Barbara moved to San Antonio, Texas so Barbara could be close to her doctors who were treating her for cancer. She died in 1987. Bill moved to Killeen, Texas in 1988. In October of 1989, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. The cancer was held in check for two years with an operation but it returned in 1991. He married Adelina Davis in the hospital chapel at Wilford Hall, US Air Force Medal Center, San Antonio, Texas on 20 May 1991. Bill Shelton died of cancer 13 May 1992. He is survived by his wife Adelina; three sons, Field Jr., Kevin Kilishek, and David Shelton; four daughters, Lyn, Teri Jo, Liz and Gena and two sisters, Peggy Hubbard and Thelma Shelton.

When asked to remember Bill Shelton, everyone who knew him always had the same first comment. Bill had a love for people and people loved him. He influenced people positively just by talking to them. One of Bill's best friends after moving to Killeen, George A. Hanger, recalled: "He was a person who wouldn't let you know how much he was suffering. I remember on the last Volksmarch he completed, Adelina had to push him up the hills. He was a poet, a maker of verses. He had the ability to be creative and imaginative. He could express the sensitivity of a subject starting from a word or idea. Bill Shelton was a Christian; he believed every day can be exciting, an adventure. He knew that, in order for that to happen, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. I took Bill to the hospital the day he passed away. He wasn't afraid to die, for he knew he had been living a life obedient to God. I lost my very best friend."

Fields E. "Bill" Shelton was a true gentleman. He was proud of his West Point heritage. He loved the Army. He was strong willed: when he believed in something and knew he was right, he stood his ground. He was everything a West Pointer should be. His family and friends will miss him but take solace in the time they shared with him. The Class of 1946 joins them to say, "Well Done, Bill; Be Thou At Peace!"


'46 Memorial Article Project and his wife, Adelina

Personal Eulogy

deceased

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