Frank Fielding turned 98 on the 26th of July, celebrating with his wife, 7 children, 21 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.  While sitting on a screened porch with his wife and overlooking a picturesque yard the couple has called home for more than 50 years, Frank recounted tales from the years that shaped a life and few of the enduring lessons learned.  

Frank grew up with his two brothers in Olneyville.  He was a child throughout the Great Depression and noted that nobody really had anything, so “we kids didn’t know we were poor.”

In 1943, the world was at war and Frank was drafted just after he turned 18.  He joined the Navy, and started as a “nobody” seaman.  Fielding recalled that after 12 weeks of boot camp in New York and a brief stop in Philadelphia, he was shipped out west and assigned to the USS Willmarth (DE-638), a destroyer escort, along with 211 other men.  He explained that on the USS Willmarth, “Our job was to go and sink subs and to protect the fleet.”  The ship dropped depth charges set to explode at different depths to destroy enemy submarines.

Frank recalled with a laugh that prior to deployment his superiors strapped him into a 20-millimeter gun for shooting practice in the San Francisco Bay. “

There was the target over there,” he said, pointing to his left. “And there I was, shooting over there,” he added with a chuckle, pointing to his right.

Some of Frank’s wartime memories live on with darker undertones. His superiors concluded that he wasn’t cut out to be a gunner and assigned him a role working in the engine and fire rooms of the ship.  He recalled that in the wake of the battle for Okinawa, his boat was tasked with assisting a vessel that had been struck “dead in the middle” with a 500-pound bomb.  “We opened the hatch to the boiler and all you could see was the ocean,” he said in a voice filled with reverence. “Next to the hatch was a body floating.  It was a sailor who was steamed to death.  That was my job,” Frank added, “controlling the water levels in the boiler when they changed speeds. This young kid laying there, and I was looking at him, and it really sunk in that it could have been me.”

The USS Willmarth was among the Pacific Fleet forces being staged for a possible invasion of the islands of Japan; that invasion did not happen due to the unprecedented deployment of nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that largely ended the war in the Pacific.  He noted gratefully that, “I went into the Navy as a boy and that’s where I got most of my education.”  According to Cecile, Frank only started talking about the details of his service within the past five years.  In October 2021, he participated in Honor Flight.   

When Frank was discharged in 1946, he returned to his family in Rhode Island.  He immediately started as an apprentice in the trades.  He worked in steel engraving and jewelry making.  With each experience he attained more skills.  Frank recounted working at one job where he made $54 a week but had little opportunity to learn and grow, so he changed jobs and took a cut in pay to $27 to work for another employer because it offered more opportunity.  After a few years, he worked in Providence as a tool maker for Ed Scanlon—whom he appreciatively described as a “prince of a guy”—where he further developed his craft and finally defined himself as a toolmaker.  He recalled working on a large project, a complex 48-cavity steel mold for a toy.  That mold would be used to manufacture various parts for what became known as Mr. Potato Head– the toy that helped to launch Hasbro.  Frank recalled that it took at least a month of 7-day work weeks to complete the mold.  Frank Fielding said the team arrived at the shop at 7 a.m. and worked “until we couldn’t stand anymore.”   He remembered the purchaser showing up to the shop on Sundays in his limousine to check on the progress with a refrain of encouragement, “Keep working boys.  Keep working.”

Shortly after being discharged from the Navy, Frank Fielding was eager to “meet the girls,” so he went to Rhodes on the Pawtuxet where “all the big bands played.” He was 21 at the time, and his future wife Cecile was 17.  The two hit it off though Cecile added that he was “not much of a dancer.” 

Frank and Cecile married in 1950 and have been building a life ever since.  It was a quite a start, as within weeks of their marriage, Frank was recommissioned and deployed to the Pacific as part of the Korean War.  Eventually and before his eventual honorable discharge, Frank earned the rank of Second Class Boiler Tender.  For his service in the Atlantic and Pacific theatres in WWII and later in the Philippines, he was awarded 6 campaign medals and 5 bronze stars. Frank recounts that the USS Willmarth crew gathered throughout the country for numerous reunions through the 80s and 90s.

Over time, fewer and fewer shipmate friends remained.  Through the years, the loss of shipmates took a toll.  “It just was not the same.”   The last reunion occurred in 2000 with only 8 of his shipmates.  With a hint of quiet pride, Frank noted that out of the 6 destroyer escorts in the WWII fleet, the USS Willmarth was the only one that somehow did not get hit.   

In 1962, with the full support of his wife, Frank opened his own tool and dye business.  In the subsequent years, the business grew.  He eventually found opportunities in manufacturing—first in plastics and later in diecastings.  Now, more than 60-years later, Frank’s son operates the business. 

Relaxing on the porch and sipping sweet iced tea, Frank shares that all 7 of their children were born at their first family home where they lived on Chapin Avenue in Highland Beach.  He laughs, noting that with only one bathroom to share between 7 children, they “outgrew the house” and, seeing a nice opportunity to move into a new neighborhood, moved into their current home on Warwick Neck in 1970, where they continued to raise their children and have lived ever since.  Looking out of the porch and at the adjoining yards of neighbors, as if watching a reel of old film, he added, “All of the kids ran around and played together.” 

Family members came from across the country to celebrate Frank Fielding’s 98th birthday on July 26.  “It was a wonderful day,” Frank observed, before adding that the festivities were so lively that he “hit the sack hard” that night.  Cecile agreed.