HomeMy WebLinkAboutMargaret and Clarence Adams, Brazos Valley Heroes s ,. e stt: it Y * Z 4..
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Clarence Adams, who had grown up in taste o,f home.
Franklin, Texas, had no idea where Iwo Jima was "They were all hungry. We didn't have much
when he sailed from Hawaii toward that Pacific but we would go out and get a helmet full of snow
atoll in November 1944. and melt chocolate bars on top and make them
• But Adams was confident as he and eight sundaes."
thousand American troops stormed the beach at 3 Following the Battle of the Bulge in 1945, and
o'clock in the morning of November 19. the victory in Europe Margaret and all the other
"We thought we had it made," recalls nurses in her unit were given the option of return -
Clarence. 60 years later. "We thought it was going ing home or volunteering to stay on until the
t . to be easy. But they waited until we had a lot of defeat of Japan. Everyone of them stepped for -
men on the beach and then they opened up. By the ward and volunteered to stay until Margaret said
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second day we had lost 500 men." "all our boys came home."
W. "There were 22,000 Japanese on the island, When the Japanese surrendered, Clarence
;, but hardly any of them were on top. The were all was told that he could head back to Texas as well,
:' underneath in 16 miles of tunnels and 1500 man but that the military didn't have any transporta-
made caves. We just tried to get them out the best tion. "1 hitchhiked on passing ships the whole way
rtiz' we could, flamethrowers, pumping water in, what home," Clarence remembers. Margaret had
ever we could do." already returned home to Franklin when Clarence
After a month of fighting hand to hand, foot came home.
by foot, across the Japanese island that was to be "I had an old aunt tell me, never marry a man
the site of the Pacific theater's bloodiest battle of unless he makes your knees weak," Margaret
rt World War II and a decisive turning point for the recalls. "When I saw him coming down the street,
., Allies, only 1000 Japanese survived. Clarence just back from the war. my knees went weak. So
served on Iwo until the war ended. we got married three weeks later."
Margaret Adams, Clarence's childhood The Adams have been married for 58 years
sweetheart from Franklin, joined the Army Corps and continue to serve their country and communi-
of Nurses as soon as the war broke out and fol- ty by visiting schools and telling their story. "We
lowed the allied troops across the English Channel need to do a better job of educating our young ;'
three weeks aftei the D -Day invasion of folks about what they are supposed to do for our
Normandy, setting up a hospital in Rennes, country," says Margaret. "We need to set them on
France. the right track. We try to teach them by example.'
"We ran the Germans out, but it was a big Clarence and Margaret Adams names can be •
clean up job. They had left bodies, corpses, and found on panel A3 of the Brazos Valley Veterans
our boys were coming in from all around." Memorial. For more information, to make a contri-
As the front lines moved east across Europe. bution, or to nominate a veteran, contact the
the nurses followed close behind, perforating BVVM at www.veterans- memorial.org.
triage and trying to give the wounded soldiers a
The E gle
Here wh ou need us.
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