Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Several years after retirement, Fielding Tucker, former production superintendent of The Natchez Democrat, began the process of organizing his memories of World War II; intended for inclusion in a book to be published in honor of World War II soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Fielding had completed all his memories of WWII and carefully organized them along with his personal sketches, photos and comments on how he wanted the book to be completed prior to falling ill with terminal cancer. Fielding passed away in July 2009 before the book was completed. As a promise to Fielding, his son Ed Tucker completed Fielding’s book and submitted it for publication.

“Snippy” Promise Made, Promise Kept is published by Newman Springs Publishing (www.newmansprings.com) and distributed by Ingram Books, the largest worldwide distributor of books. The book is available in hardback, paperback and ebook. It has only recently been released for distribution and retailers are still in the process of adding the book, but is now available through major book retailers such as Amazon, EBay, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Wal-Mart, Powell Books, Hudson Books, etc. The book has also been released to European and Asian countries; currently found on Italian, French and Japanese web sites.

The book begins with Fielding Tucker’s life as a teenager roaming the hills of Vicksburg, pulling pranks at St. Aloysius College, dating, and working part-time at the Vicksburg newspaper where influences by WWI veterans on the staff turned his attention to World War II. Still a teenager, Fielding enters WWII and experiences all the worst of the war, including hand-to-hand combat and the loss of nearly all his comrades that began this journey with Fielding.

During several trips to France Fielding, Ed and wife Marie, were fortunate in being able to talk with numerous survivors of WWII, including French villagers befriended by Fielding during the war, former French resistance fighters, villagers who were forced into manual labor by the German army and a former German SS soldier forced into Hitler’s youth group and later as a combat soldier.

After an attempt to enlist in the Navy at 17 and being disqualified by his parents, Fielding Tucker entered service in the army at age eighteen to begin a journey throughout Italy, France & Germany during the horrors of World War II. As a youthful teenager, Fielding experienced much more than he anticipated during WWII with memories that would never fade.

Fielding was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, a Presidential Citation, and additional medals of honor. Later in life, Fielding also received the French Legion of Honor award designated by the president of France.

During the liberation of Rome, Italy, Fielding mounted a weapons carrier moving through Rome. As they passed the ancient coliseum, GIs were greeted by crowds who waved American flags and offered wine, fresh water, and fruits. Fielding joined a select group of GIs allowed a visit with Pope Pius XII at St. Peter’s Basilica. They received a souvenir of the visit from the pope and a tour of the Basilica.

At the ending of WWII, while assigned as guardians of the infamous Landsberg Prison, Fielding and his platoon witnessed the cruel brutality of German SS Troops as they discovered boxcars filled with dead Jewish prisoners. Fielding stood in Hitler’s steam-heated cell and noted that Hitler was treated as a special prisoner as he wrote Mein Kampf during his incarceration.

Fielding is survived by eight children. Ed Tucker of Natchez, Diana Hinson and Becky Ferguson of Vidalia, Janie Reyes of Ferriday, Kathy D’Antoni, Mary Ann Eagle and Tony Tucker of Lake Charles, LA, Danny Tucker of Pollack, LA, 19 grandchildren, 48 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great-grandchildren, all living within Mississippi and Louisiana.