Their Story
Remembering James Adams.
James Robert Adams graduated with West Point's Class of 1967 and was commissioned into the Army, joining Company A, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 505th Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, in Vietnam. He carried his class's motto, "None Will Surpass," with him into combat.
On 20 March 1968, his company came under heavy North Vietnamese automatic-weapons fire from entrenched positions across a canal, inflicting heavy casualties on his platoon. When Lieutenant Adams spotted one of his wounded soldiers exposed in the open, he went to him — and was killed in the attempt.
He was buried in the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, and a memorial stone in his honor stands at Whitewater Baptist Church Cemetery in Bonifay, Florida.
More than half a century later, West Point still holds his name. In 2024, Cadet Sumer Deol of Company A3 — the same company Adams served with — reached out on behalf of her platoon, which had taken on the honor of memorializing him; she had been in contact with his sister and with his friends from his Academy days, and Steel Hearts built a bracelet bearing his name, his dates, the 82nd Airborne patch, and a Ranger tab.
That platoon, now known within the company as Adams Platoon, continues to honor him each year as new cadets join its ranks.