This Military Service Page was created/owned by
MAJ Mark E Cooper
to remember
Adams, Paul DeWitt, GEN.
If you knew or served with this Soldier and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Heflin
Last Address Tampa, FL
Date of Passing Oct 31, 1987
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
General Paul DeWitt Adams
(October 6, 1906 – October 31, 1987)
General in the United States Army.
Adams was born in Heflin, Alabama. After graduating from Marion Military Institute in 1924 he entered the United States Military Academy and graduated in 1928, receiving his commission in the Infantry.
He served with as executive officer of the 1st Special Service Force from 1942 to 1944, including during their assault on Kiska in 1943. Following that assignment, he became commanding officer of the 143d Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, serving in the Mediterranean Theater and European Theater from January 1944 to January 1945. He served as Assistant Division Commander, 45th Infantry Division from January 1945 to January 1946. This was followed by staff assignments to Headquarters, Army Ground Forces in 1946 and Command and General Staff College from 1947 to 1950. He was a student and then faculty member at the Army War College from 1950 to 1951, before being deployed to fight in the Korean War. He consecutively served as Commanding General, 25th Infantry Division, Chief of Staff of X Corps, and Chief of Staff Eighth United States Army during the Korean War. After the war, he was Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division, from June to December 1953. He later served as Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East in 1958. From 1959 to 1960, he commanded V Corps.
He concurrently served as Commanding General, Third United States Army, and Commanding General, Fort McPherson, Georgia, from 1960 to 1961. After receiving his fourth star in 1961, he became Commander-in-Chief, United States Strike Command, from 1961 to 1966.
General Adams retired in 1966. He was president of Paul D. Adams & Associates from 1966 to 1971. He died on October 31, 1987 in Tampa, Florida.
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Sicily Campaign (1943)
From Month/Year
July / 1943
To Month/Year
August / 1943
Description (Sicily Campaign 9 July to 17 August 1943) In preparation for the invasion of Sicily the Allies captured the islands in the Sicilian strait, with aerial bombardment forcing the capitulation of Pantelleria on 11 June 1943. By that time Allied air power had begun the attack on Sicily by bombing defenses and airfields. The invasion itself got under way on the night of 9/10 July with airborne landings that were followed the next day by an amphibious assault. The enemy offered strong resistance, but the Allies had superiority in the air and soon had planes operating from Sicilian bases to support Montgomery’s Eighth Army and Patton’s Seventh.
Interdictory operations against communications in Italy and between Italy and Sicily convinced the enemy that it would be impossible to move strong reinforcements. By 17 August 1943 the Allies were in possession of the island, but they had not been able to prevent a German evacuation across the Strait of Messina.
