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ADAMS, LUCIAN Rank
and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, 30th Infantry,
3d Infantry Division. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 28 October 1944, near St. Die, France. When his company was stopped in its effort to drive through the Mortagne Forest to reopen the supply line to the isolated third battalion, S/Sgt. Adams braved the concentrated fire of machineguns in a lone assault on a force of German troops. Although his company had progressed less than 10 yards and had lost 3 killed and 6 wounded, S/Sgt. Adams charged forward dodging from tree to tree firing a borrowed BAR from the hip. Despite intense machinegun fire which  the
enemy directed at him and rifle grenades which struck the trees over
his head showering him with broken twigs and branches, S/Sgt. Adams
made his way to within 10 yards of the closest machinegun and killed
the gunner with a hand grenade. An enemy soldier threw hand grenades
at him from a position only 10 yards distant; however, S/Sgt. Adams
dispatched him with a single burst of BAR fire. Charging into the
vortex of the enemy fire, he killed another machinegunner at 15 yards
range with a hand grenade and forced the surrender of 2 supporting
infantrymen. Although the remainder of the German group concentrated
the full force of its automatic weapons fire in a desperate effort
to knock him out, he proceeded through the woods to find and exterminate
5 more of the enemy. Finally, when the third German machinegun opened
up on him at a range of 20 yards, S/Sgt. Adams killed the gunner with
BAR fire. In the course of the action, he personally killed 9 Germans,
eliminated 3 enemy machineguns, vanquished a specialized force which
was armed with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, cleared the
woods of hostile elements, and reopened the severed supply lines to
the assault companies of his battalion. |
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