Kenny was born in Lex, West Virginia
in 1940 to Kennard (a coal miner) and Elizabeth Akers Fields. Lex is a small
coal mining community named after Kenny's great-grandfather, and has a population of less than 100. It lies in
the southern most portion of W.Va. between Bradshaw and Iaeger in
McDowell County where Welch is the county seat. During grades 1-4, he attended Bartley Elementary School in Bartley, W.Va.
In 1950 his family moved to Evanston, KY (near Salyersville, Kentucky) where
his dad was the Mine Foreman with the Island Creek Coal Company. During grades 5-6 in Evanston, the school was
one room, but expanded to two rooms when Kenny began the
7th grade.
During the 9th grade,he "boarded"
with an aunt in the Cincinnati
surburban village of Lockland, Ohio and attended Lockland High School . There, he was a member of the
'Panthers' varsity football team, and
a member of the 1955 Ohio Class B championship baseball team. Grades
10-12 were spent at Big Creek High
School in War, West Virginia---where
he was a schoolmate of Homer Hickam who authored the best sellers, Torpedo Junction' and 'Rocket Boys' (the movie,'October Skies'). At Big Creek, Kenny was a starter on the varsity
football team, and during his three
years the 'Owls' football team won 28 games and lost only one with Kenny playing first at end and
defensive halfback, then halfback
and linebacker his senior year. Each summer, he starred on the Big Creek American Legion baseball team. He graduated in 1958.
Kenny received a BA degree with a
major in English and a minor in
Math in 1962 from Lincoln Memorial University at Harrogate,Tennessee
(near Cumberland Gap). While at LMU, Kenny married Shirley Jean
Garrett, an LMU cheerleader and
former Lynn View High School valedictorian from Kingsport,
Tennessee.
Kenny lettered three years in
baseball as the Lincoln Memorial University 'Railsplitter's' second
baseman.
After graduation from LMU,
Kenny reported for sixteen weeks
of "pre-flight training" at the Navy
Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida---the same one
depicted in the movie, 'Officer and a Gentleman'. After completion, he
received his commission as an
Ensign, and eight months later earned
his 'wings' as a Bombardier/Navigator.
He made two cruises ('64, '65) with
the "Checkertails" of VAH-11 (NAS Sanford, Florida), flying A-3B Skywarriors aboard the aircraft carriers USS FDR (Roosevelt), and USS Forrestal.
In 1966, Kenny commenced pilot
training in T-34s, T-28s, and F-9s...
earned his 'Wings of Gold' in 1967,
and then reported to the first east
coast operational A-7A Corsair
squadron---the VA-82 'Marauders'
(NAS Cecil Field near Jacksonville, Florida). The squadron deployed to Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin
in early 1968 aboard USS America
and again in late 1969 aboard USS
Coral Sea. During two combat cruises Kenny flew 139 combat missions over North and South Vietnam, Cambodia
and Laos, and was awarded the Bronze
Star with combat "V", Purple Heart, two Navy Commendation Medals with "V",
and 12 Strike Flight Air Medals.
Following his two combat cruises,
Kenny received training that certified
him to be an aviation accident
investigator and aviation safety officer. Afterward, he served one tour ('70-'72) in VT-7 (Nas Meridian) as a jet flight instructor in T-2s and TA-4s. Next
('72-'76), he was the Ops Officer, and
later Officer-in-Charge of VA-205
(NAS Atlanta) flying A-4Ls, then
A-7Bs. Following that, he was the
Aviation Safety Officer on the Chief,
Naval Air Reserve staff ('76-'79) in
New Orleans, and the Commander,
Naval Air Systems Command staff in Washington, DC (''80-'82) before his
final assignment as the Navy Liason Officer to the FAA administrator in Washington, DC. Kenny was awarded
two Navy Commendation Medals for various staff duty.
Commander Fields retired from the
Navy in 1984 after 22 years service,
3,350 flight hours, and 475 carrier landings. Since then, he has successfully "piloted" two small
business companies through start-up
and maturation. Kenny and Shirley
have three adult children, and live in Moorresville,NC.
"The Rescue of Streetcar 304" is
Kenny's first published book, but
he is currently at work on his second
one, titled "Petey". In it, three friends
grow up roaming the mountains of Appalachia and become high school
sports stars, and share at different
times the same sweethearts. All three initially take advantage of the
offer to play at the collegiate level,
but at that point their lives take
sharply divirgent paths.
Sports, romance, sorrow, life or
death situations, and happiness
combine for another enjoyable easy read second book by Kenny.
Coming soon.... "PETEY and Friends"