THE WALL OF FACES

Brigadier General Carroll E. Adams, Jr. graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1945. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He served various tours in Hawaii, Europe, the United States and the Canadian Arctic. His last tour of duty prior to volunteering for service in Vietnam was as the District Engineer, Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

BG Adams departed for Vietnam in January, 1970 and assumed command of the 937th Engineer Group, a Corps-level Engineer group. The week before his death, his eldest son, 1LT Robert A. Adams was critically injured while rescuing the pilot and copilot of a Cobra attack helicopter which had crashed near his base. General Adams was able to see his son before his own fatal helicopter crash.

On May 12th, 1970, while conducting an inspection tour of his widely dispersed units, General Adams' helicopter came under hostile fire from a North Vietnamese antiaircraft machinegun and was shot down. Only one person on board the helicopter, Command Sergeant Major Robert Elkey, survived the crash by jumping from the stricken aircraft as it fell to the earth.

General Adams was buried with full military honors at the West Point cemetary at the United States Military Academy. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Ronne Adams, his daughter, Ronne Adams Israel, and his three sons, LTC (Ret.) Robert A. Adams (USMA '68), LTC (Ret.) Jonathan P. Adams (USMA '74) and LTC William F. Adams (USMA '81).

General Adams left behind a legacy of compassion and engendering strong loyalty in all who knew and served under him. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District renamed a survey vessel the "Adams" in his honor in 1972. When that vessel was retired from service in 1997, the District commissioned its replacement, the "Adams II" in his honor. The State of Massachusetts dedicated a intersection in his memory on Route 2, the Mohawk Trail, near his boyhood home in Charlemont, Massachusetts. His name is also inscribed on a memorial plaque of West Point graduates killed in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts in Cullum Hall at West Point. The command building of the 937th Engineer Group, now stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, was named Adams Hall in his honor.

In 25 years of selfless service to our nation, General Adams epitomized the West Point motto, "Duty, Honor, Country."

BRIGADIER GENERAL

CARROLL EDWARD ADAMS JR.

WAS A DISTINGUISHED GRADUATE OF THE

UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY

AT WEST POINT, NEW YORK

IN THE CLASS OF 1945

AND AT THE TIME OF HIS UNTIMELY DEATH

AT THE AGE OF 46

WAS THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE

937th ENGINEER GROUP

AMONG THE MILITARY DECORATIONS

HE WAS AWARDED WERE

THE LEGION OF MERIT with OAK LEAF CLUSTER

THE USAF COMMENDATION MEDAL with 3 OAK LEAF CLUSTERS

THE AIR MEDAL with OAK LEAF CLUSTER

THE PURPLE HEART MEDAL



- DUTY - HONOR - COUNTRY -


- THE LONG GRAY LINE -



YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN
NOR SHALL YOU EVER BE