James Adams
| NAME: James Adams | NICKNAME: — | SERVICE NUMBER: 202198 | |||||
| HOME OF RECORD: 235 William Street, Orange, NJ | NEXT OF KIN: Wife, Mrs. Rose M. Adams | ||||||
| DATE OF BIRTH: 5/15/1910 | SERVICE DATES: c. 1925 – 1940 1/25/1943 – 2/1/1944 | DATE OF DEATH: 2/1/1944 | |||||
| CAMPAIGN | UNIT | MOS | RATE | RESULT | |||
| Roi-Namur | HQ/1/24 | 585 | Platoon Sergeant | KIA | |||
INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS: | LAST KNOWN RANK: Platoon Sergeant | ||||||
James Adams was born in Blairstown, New Jersey, in May of 1910; he was the fourth of seven children raised by John “Amzie” and Lula (Swope) Adams, and grew up in Warren County and the Oranges.
Adams decided at a young age that he wanted to join the Marine Corps. The exact date of his enlistment is difficult to pin down, but his low service number – 202198 – suggests the mid-1920s, and one James Adams (perhaps a fifteen-year-old from Orange, New Jersey) did report to Parris Island for boot camp in November 1925. He appears to have served continuously for the next nine years with duty stations in the United States, in Haiti, and in China. When discharged in November 1936, Adams held the rank of corporal in the Marines – and membership in the International Lodge of Masons. He settled back in Orange with his wife, the former Rose Marie Poliseno, took a job with the American Gas Accumulator Company in Elizabeth. Even in his new life, the Corps was not far away: Adams retained the rank of sergeant in the inactive reserves.
Adams returned to active duty with his re-enlistment in on 25 January 1943. He left Rose Marie at their home at 235 William Street – her family lived in the building – and traveled by train to Parris Island, South Carolina, to join the depot’s Headquarters battalion. Adams quickly became a drill instructor and spent several months molding recruits into Marines before being transferred to the west coast, where he joined First Battalion, 24th Marines as a platoon sergeant. Adams’ chief duties were Police & Property Sergeant, meaning he had charge of the battalion’s guard duties as well as overseeing the upkeep of equipment and meting out punishments as needed. His hefty build, service history, and august age – he was thirty-three, while most of his young charges were in their teens or early twenties – made him a good choice for the job; few would dare risk the wrath of a senior sergeant, especially one who had spent months in the “real Corps.”
In January 1944, Adams boarded the USS DuPage and sailed away from California. His regiment was headed for its first test in combat, on the island of Namur in the Kwajalein atoll.
Although the operation would later be praised as a success, the actual February 1 landing on Namur felt like anything but. The vast majority of the Marines were new to combat, landing craft got lost or were unavailable, and a Japanese ammunition bunker blew up with enough force to shake the ground and cover the island in a pall of smoke. Adams, deciding that his help would be needed in the confusion, took off for the front lines – although he could have stayed in the comparative safety of battalion headquarters back at the beach.
The first group Adams encountered was a section of the Third Platoon of Company A, with some machine gunners attached. They were pinned in a trench by heavy Japanese fire coming from a series of positions nearby. Initial attempts by a few individuals were pushed back, but a lone assault by Corporal Arthur Ervin succeeded in destroying one position, while a bazooka round took out another. Adams joined a handful of Marines in a mad scramble to exploit the gain. Lieutenant Philip E. Wood, Jr., witnessed the attack.
Combat correspondent David Dempsey picked up the story:
The entire group then moved along the shore. The Japanese were thick in a wide, deep trench, interspersed at frequent intervals by underground dugouts from which came rifle and machine gun fire. Platoon Sergeant James Adams of Orange, N.J., personally knocked out one enemy machine gun in this advance along the trench. He was standing up firing pointblank at enemy riflemen, when he himself was hit.
Adams was shot multiple times in the head and body, and was dead before he hit the ground. Once the enemy position was taken, his remains were carried on a stretcher to the beach, then to the Pauline Point Cemetery, where he was buried in Grave 70, Plot 2, Row 3.
James Adams’ final actions were witnessed by at least three officers from Company A, who put their heads together to recommend him for the Silver Star medal. The decoration was presented to Rose Marie, along with the following citation:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Platoon Sergeant James Adams (MCSN: 202198), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with Headquarters Company, First Battalion, Twenty Fourth Marines, Fourth Marine Division in combat against enemy Japanese forces during the invasion of Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, 1 February 1944. Although his post as police sergeant did not require it, Platoon Sergeant Adams joined his comrades in the front lines and fought with skill and courage to dislodge the enemy from their entrenched positions along the northern beach of the island. On one occasion he and another Marine assaulted a connected series of trenches and a pillbox by alternately attacking the Japanese and acting as cover for each other until reaching positions approximately ten yards from the enemy emplacement. Fearlessly exposing himself to the Japanese, Platoon Sergeant Adams succeeded in destroying five of the hostile troops before he, himself, was killed. His extreme bravery and tenacious determination were an inspiration to his comrades and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
After the war, James Adams was re-buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, where he rests today.
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James Adams was my great uncle. Words cannot express how proud I am to be connected to this great hero.
How proud the family must be to have a Hero like him.
One of the main reasons Why i Joined the Marine”s
Just enlisted yesterday. I’ve always been inspired by my great-uncle, James.