Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt) Lucian Adams entered the US Army in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1943. Before joining the military, Adams worked in a wartime plant that made landing craft – just like the one that would deliver him to Italy and later to France. As part of his time in the 30th Infantry of the 3rd Infantry Division, Adams earned a Medal of Honor for his valorous actions during combat. On October 28, 1944, near St. Die, France, the Allied troops were attempting to reopen a supply line through the Mortagne Forest to the third division who had been cut off. Stopped by German gunfire, it was S/Sgt. Adams who continued to push through despite the danger to his life and the group's lack of success up to that point (three had been killed, six were wounded, and less than ten yards of progress had been made). By himself, Adams took on several German machine gunners with only the cover of the trees and a borrowed Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Despite machine gun fire and rifle grenades being shot and thrown at him, Adams made it within ten yards of the first machine gun and put it out of commission with a hand grenade. At this point, an enemy soldier threw a hand grenade at Adams, who retaliated with gunfire, and so mitigated the threat. Continuing deeper into the enemy-controlled forest, Adams knocked out another machine gunner with a hand grenade and captured two enemy soldiers. Despite becoming the focus of German fire, Adams successfully wove his way through trees and gun fire while removing five more enemies. He was also successful in stopping a third machine gunner's deadly assault. In total, S/Sgt. Adams killed nine German soldiers, removed three machine guns, subdued a special German force of automatic weapons and grenade launchers, wiped out the hostile elements of the Mortagne Forest, and reopened the supply lines to the companies of his battalion who were leading an assault.
S/Sgt Adams was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his work in Italy. In addition, Adams received the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the WWII Victory Medal.
Adams retired from the US Army in 1945. He returned to Texas and worked with the Veteran's Administration until he retired in 1986. Adams died in 2003 in San Antonio, Texas. An elementary school in Port Arthur, Texas, is named after S/Sgt Adams.
Sources Consulted:
Army Website, Medal of Honor Recipients, WWII
The National Archives, Access to the Archival Databases, Enlistment Records
