Medal of Honor Monday: Army Staff Sgt. Lucian Adams

View Online Medal of Honor Monday: Army Staff Sgt. Lucian Adams Oct. 28, 2024 | By Katie Lange Army Staff Sgt. Lucian Adams was one of few men to receive the Medal of Honor in Germany as the Nazi regime crumbled in the last days of World War II. Just months before, Adams singlehandedly took out three machine gun nests and several enemy soldiers while working to reopen supply lines in France. His actions earned him the nation's highest honor for valor and a front-row seat to the war's end.  Adams was born on Oct. 26, 1922, in Port Arthur, Texas, to Lucian and Rosa Adams. He was one of 12 siblings — three girls and nine boys. Adams said that all but one of his brothers served in the military and, thankfully, they all returned home.  Adams attended Port Arthur Junior High School before dropping out to support his family. During a 2001 Library of Congress Veterans History Project interview, Adams said he worked in construction before working for nearly two years as a cook in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal program to help lift the U.S out of the Great Depression. Adams was working at a shipyard when World War II began and continued that work until he was drafted into the Army in February 1943.   According to a 1945 article in a newspaper out of Mansfield, Texas, Adams had never left his home state until he was sent to North Carolina for basic training. He served as a rifleman before being placed with the 3rd Battalion of the 30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division. In autumn 1943, his unit was deployed to Europe.   In February 1944, Adams' first combat experience occurred while in Italy during the Battle of Anzio. Later that year, he earned the Bronze Star as the division pushed to Rome. Adams said he contracted malaria while there and spent time in a hospital before being sent to southern France to take part in Operation Dragoon in August 1944.   That October, Adams' regiment was called upon to reestablish contact with two companies that had been cut off by the Germans while traversing a supply route in the Mortagne Forest in northeast France. Adams said his commander chose him to put together a patrol to determine how much resistance there was. That patrol discovered the enemy's blockade included three machine gun nests and a tank.   On Oct. 28, 1944 — two days after Adams' 22nd birthday — his company pushed forward to attempt to reopen the supply line when they were attacked. Three of his company's soldiers died and six others were wounded before they'd made it 10 yards further, but Adams pushed aside any fear and charged forward, using trees for cover as he shot a borrowed automatic rifle at the enemy.   "You do things so automatically because of the training that you had in the states that you don't take time to think how serious the predicaments you get into ," Adams said in his Veterans History Project interview. "Before you know it, you're in it, and you just have to fight your way out."  The enemy soon directed heavy machine gun fire at him, along with rifle grenades that struck the trees above his head and showered him in broken branches. But Adams was still able to get within 10 yards of the closest machine gun nest and killed its gunner with a hand grenade.  When one enemy soldier within about 10 yards of his location threw hand grenades at him, Adams quickly killed the man with his rifle. He then charged into the vortex of enemy fire, killing another machine gunner and forcing two other enemy soldiers to surrender.   By then, the rest of the enemy's firepower had been turned on Adams. But he continued to push on, making his way through the woods and killing five more enemy soldiers before taking out the last machine gunner with his rifle.   According to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times, the entire ordeal took about 10 minutes.   Aside from taking out the three machine gun nests, Adams was credited with killing nine enemy soldiers. His extraordinary actions sent any remaining Germans fleeing, which allowed his unit to reopen the severed supply lines and reunite the cutoff companies with his battalion.   Adams received the Medal of Honor on April 23, 1945, from Army Lt. Gen. Alexander Patch, the 7th Army commander, during a ceremony in Nuremberg, Germany, about two weeks before Germany surrendered. Four other soldiers also received the high honor that day: Keith Ware, John Tominac, Russel Dunham and Wilburn Ross.   The ceremony was held inside the famous Zepman Stadium — now known as Zeppelin Field — where Adolf Hitler held rallies as the Nazis gained power in the late 1930s.  "It was a stadium that had a big swastika in the background. The engineers set it up where they draped the American flag over the swastika," Adams remembered in 2001. "After we were decorated, the five of us, it wasn't two minutes before the engineers had exploded that swastika. It just blew that swastika to pieces. … It was a big thrill and a big satisfaction."   Born of Mexican heritage, Adams is one of 59 Hispanic Americans to have received the Medal of Honor.   After Adams was discharged from the Army, he took a job as a benefits counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Antonio. He remained there for 40 years before briefly taking a position as a consultant for U.S. Rep. Frank Tejeda.   Adams retired in the late 1980s. In his later years, he enjoyed spending time with his three children and grandchildren, as well as planting pecan trees and working in his backyard.   Adams died March 31, 2003, in San Antonio, after suffering from diabetes and heart problems, the L.A. Times said. He is buried at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.   Adams' name is hard to forget in Texas. A park and a street in his hometown of Port Arthur were named after him in the 1970s and 1980s, and he's a prominent figure at the town's Museum of the Gulf Coast. In 1994, a stretch of Interstate 37 in San Antonio was named the Lucian Adams Freeway. In 2011, the Port Arthur school district lauded its hometown hero by naming a local elementary school in his honor.  This article is part of a weekly series called "Medal of Honor Monday," in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have received the U.S. military's highest medal for valor. More Stories of Valor   Experience: The Highest Awards for Valor

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