Edward Fields

Edward Fields was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised on Long Island. In early 1945, at the age of 20, he served as a second lieutenant and navigator in the U.S. Army Air Forces, flying bombing missions over northern Europe with the 8th Air Force. During a raid on Berlin, his B-17 bomber was hit by enemy flak and crash-landed in the North Sea. Although the crew managed to get into life rafts, three men died before rescue, including one who sacrificed his life so Fields could survive.

This harrowing experience would later shape his voice as a writer. Fields eventually recounted the event in his poem "World War II," and decades later, narrated it for an animated short film titled "Minor Accident of War."

Fields became a celebrated poet and author, recognized for his honest and distinctive voice, shaped by his experiences as a Jewish veteran and one of the few writers of his time to openly address his identity. He remains the last surviving poet featured in the Library of America’s Poets of World War II anthology.