Private 1st Class Ralph E. Adams (1925–1944)

*Ralph E. Adams (Courtesy of the Newark History Museum, enhanced with MyHeritage)*

Residences	Civilian Occupation
Pennsylvania, Delaware	Mill worker (likely for Continental Diamond Fibre)
Branch	Service Number
U.S. Army	32956435
Theater	Unit
European	Antitank Company, 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division
Awards	Campaigns/Battles
Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge?	Normandy
Military Occupational Specialty	Entered the Service From
531 (antitank gun crewman)	Newark, Delaware

Early Life & Family

Ralph Everett Adams was born in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, on May 19, 1925. He was the son of Lawrence (1895–1938) and Lillian Adams (née Buckingham, later Carmine, 1903–1976). He had two younger sisters, Elizabeth V. Adams (later Walker, 1927–2010) and Cora Adams (who died as an infant in 1930). According to his military paperwork, he was Protestant. As of April 1930, the family was living at 18 Clements Avenue, Upper Chichester Township, Pennsylvania. Adams’s father was working as a carpenter in a factory at the time, though he was described as a laborer eight years later, when the family was living on Garfield Avenue in Milmont Park, Pennsylvania.

Adams’s father was killed at work when a wall collapsed on him at the corner of Front and Jeffrey Streets in Chester, Pennsylvania, on December 20, 1938. The Adams family subsequently moved to Delaware, where Lillian Adams was born and still had family. When he was recorded in the census in April 1940, Adams was living in White Clay Hundred in New Castle County, Delaware (on “Road #18 Christiana–Newark,” today’s Delaware Route 273). At the time, Adams, his mother, and younger sister were staying at the house where his uncle and aunt, Charles and Lorraine Buckingham, and his three cousins lived.

According to his enlistment data card, Adams completed two years of high school. When he registered for the draft on May 19, 1943, the registrar described him as standing about five feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 210 lbs., with blond hair and blue eyes.

The address on his draft card was initially listed as 121 Wollaston Street in Newark. He moved to 95 South Chapel Street before entering the service. His family told the State of Delaware Public Archives commission that Adams was a mill worker before he was drafted. Although Newark had several mills at the time, a likely employer was Continental Diamond Fibre, located across the street from his residence. His job was classified on his enlistment data card as “skilled occupations in the manufacture of miscellaneous products.” A morning report listed the coding of his civilian occupation as 302, machine operator for designated machinery.

Military Career

Adams was inducted into the U.S. Army in Camden, New Jersey, on August 19, 1943. A State of Delaware individual military service record—presumably filled out by his mother or sister—stated that he went on active duty on September 10, 1943, at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Indeed, on that day, he was attached to Receiving Company “B,” 1229th Reception Center there. During World War II, some soldiers were assigned directly to a unit for basic training rather than first being sent to a replacement training center. On September 14, 1943, Adams and 188 other men from Receiving Company “B” were dispatched to the 63rd Infantry Division at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi.

*Morning report recording Adams joining Antitank Company, 253rd Infantry Regiment. His military occupational specialty code is listed as 521, basic. (National Archives)*

On September 16, 1943, Private Adams joined Antitank Company, 253rd Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division. Antitank companies had three platoons of antitank guns and one antitank mine platoon. They were decidedly defensive assets in units that were most commonly on the offensive, though they could be used to consolidate gains against armored counterattack.

Adams was promoted to private 1st class on January 20, 1944. That same day, he went on furlough, returning to duty on January 31, 1944. The Newark Post reported that Adams “volunteered for overseas duty.” Adams was one of 16 men from his company who were transferred to the 90th Infantry Division on February 8, 1944.

*Morning report listing Adams’s promotion to private 1st class (National Archives)*

*Morning report listing Adams’s transfer to the 90th Infantry Division (National Archives)*

*Roster of newly joined members of Antitank Company, 359th Infantry Regiment, including a listing of Adams’s military occupational specialty code of 531, antitank gun crewman (National Archives)*

Private 1st Class Adams may have been attached for rations and quarters to Antitank Company, 359th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division on the night of February 10, 1944. Regardless, on February 11, 1944, Adams and nine others officially joined that unit. His military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) code by that time was 531, antitank gun crewman.

Adams and his unit moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, by rail, on the afternoon of March 14, 1944. They moved to the New York Port of Embarkation and boarded a vessel on March 22, 1944, shipping out the following day. Adams and his comrades arrived in the United Kingdom on April 5, 1944. They spent the rest of the month based in Berrington, Herefordshire, England.

By 1944, the 57 mm antitank guns used by Private 1st Class Adams’s unit was obsolete and largely incapable of penetrating the frontal armor of most German tanks. It was a blessing that the Americans rarely encountered German armor in Normandy.

Elements of the 90th Infantry Division arrived at Utah Beach on the afternoon of D-Day in Normandy, June 6, 1944, with the rest of the division landing two days later. The division was soon bloodied during tough fighting in the hedgerows of Normandy. The primary objective of the U.S. VII Corps (including Private 1st Class Adams’s division) was to secure the Cotentin Peninsula, capturing the port of Cherbourg in the process.

A camouflaged 57 mm antitank gun and its crew from the 9th Infantry Division seen in a photo dated October 15, 1944 (Official U.S. Army Signal Corps photo 111-SC-195690 by Petrony, National Archives via Signal Corps Archive)

9th Infantry Division soldiers advance “through [a] breach in hedgerow made by bulldozer” in this photo from the Normandy campaign (Official U.S. Army Signal Corps photo 111-SC-191997, National Archives)

In his book The Americans at Normandy: The Summer of 1944—The American War from the Normandy Beaches to Falaise, John C. McManus wrote that the 90th Infantry Division had considerable difficulties upon entering combat that

boiled down to two major problems: poor preparation and poor senior leadership. The soldiers of the 90th Division were well trained, well equipped, and more than willing to fight, but they had not been properly prepared for the challenging hedgerow terrain. This was the single greatest failing of the pre-invasion planning. The Allies, especially the Americans, thought too much about how to get ashore and not enough about how to deal with the unique Norman terrain.

The 90th Infantry Division after action report that month reported that on June 23, 1944, “The 358th and 359th Infantries relieved the 507th Parachute [Infantry] Regiment in the areas South of the Douve River.” During the next few days were relatively quiet, aside from patrolling—and fending off German patrols.

Although there are discrepancies in various documents, Private 1st Class Adams was most likely hit by artillery fire in the early morning hours of June 26, 1944. Rushed to an aid station, by 0250 hours, he had succumbed to “multiple shrapnel wounds.” The only effects found on his body were an Orvin wristwatch, his wallet, his Social Security card, and one mechanical pencil.

That afternoon, Private 1st Class Adams was buried at the U.S. Military Cemetery Sainte-Mère-Église (Plot E, Row 4, Grave 61). After the war, on July 20, 1947, Adams’s mother wrote a letter to the Quartermaster Corps Memorial Division requesting that her son be repatriated to the United States. In accordance with her wishes, his body was disinterred on April 21, 1948, and transported from Cherbourg to the New York Port of Embarkation aboard the U.S.A.T. Greenville Victory. Private 1st Class Adams’s body finally reached Newark on July 7, 1948. After a service at the Robert T. Jones Funeral Home in Newark on July 11, 1948, Private 1st Class Adams was buried in the Newark Cemetery.

Notes

121 Wollaston Street

121 Wollaston Street is not currently a valid address in Newark. There is a Wollaston Avenue, but that street has no 100 block, only a 400 and a 700 block.

Date of Death

The August 3, 1944, article in The Newark Post stated that Adams “was killed in Normandy on June 26 in an anti-tank attack with the infantry.” The Individual Military Service Record gave a date of death of June 29, 1944, and his headstone and a July 8, 1948, Journal-Every Evening article has the date of June 24, 1944.

After the war, the Army made an investigation due to contradictory reports concerning his date of death (most notably the burial record, which stated that he died on June 24, 1944). In an October 24, 1947, memorandum, investigator Rolfe A. Sauls wrote in part:

3. Entries appearing in this soldier’s Service Record, WD AGO Form No. 24, state that he died due to enemy action, at Cherbourg Peninsula, 26 June 1944.

4. A carbon copy of a Medical Card, Form 52B, Medical Department, shows that the subject was tagged at a Dressing Station at 0250 hours, on 26 June 1944 as having been killed in action from multiple shrapnel wounds. Disposition is shown as “Cemetery”, at 0500 hours on 26 June 1944. Another Medical Card, Form No. 52B, Medical Department, signed by Sgt Frank Rinelda, MD, shows the subject person tagged at Seventh Corps Cemetery No 2, at 1300 hours on 26 June 1944, as killed in action.

5. It is considered that information shown on the medical cards constitute sufficient evidence to conclude that the date of 26 June 1944, as originally reported, is the correct date of death of Pfc Adams, and it is recommended that no action be taken to change this date.

Photo Enhancement

The portrait on this page was digitally enhanced using tools on the genealogy website MyHeritage. This software is useful in instances where the only known photograph is of limited resolution (in this case, because the original print was fuzzy and had to be photographed behind glass). I believe this to be a generally accurate reconstruction, but the software could potentially introduce errors by misinterpreting fuzzy details in the original photograph. For instance, the eyelash details were based on the software’s interpretations of a shadowy area with little detail.

*Comparison of the original (left) and the product of MyHeritage’s enhancements (right)*

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the Newark History Museum for the use of their photo and to Tyler Alberts (90th Division historian) for information.

Bibliography

After Action Report for the 90th Infantry Division. June 1944. The 90th Division Association website. http://www.90thdivisionassoc.org/afteractionreports/Scans/junjul44/90th%20Div%20AAR%20June%2044%20pt%201.htm

Application for Headstone or Marker for Ralph E. Adams. Undated, c. August 1948. Applications for Headstones, January 1, 1925 – June 30, 1970. Record Group 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/104678353?objectPage=2501

Census Record for Ralph Adams. April 11, 1930. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4639364_00577

Census Record for Ralph E. Adams. April 18, 1940. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/m-t0627-00546-00327

Certificate of Death for Clara Adams. Undated, c. April 21, 1930. Pennsylvania Death certificates, 1906–1967. Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/42342_645856_0580-02758

Certificate of Death for Lawrence Adams. December 1938. Pennsylvania Death certificates, 1906–1967. Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/42342_647661_0647-03127

Draft Registration Card for Ralph Everett Adams. May 19, 1943. Draft Registration Cards for Delaware, October 16, 1940 – March 31, 1947. Record Group 147, Records of the Selective Service System. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSMG-XWCW

“Elizabeth V. ‘Betty’ Adams Walker.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61238234/elizabeth-v.-walker

Hospital Admission Card for 32956435. U.S. WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942–1954. Record Group 112, Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army), 1775–1994. National Archives at College Park, Maryland. https://www.fold3.com/record/704943107-adams-ralph-e

Individual Deceased Personnel File for Ralph E. Adams. Individual Deceased Personnel Files, 1939–1953. Record Group 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri.

Individual Military Service Record for Ralph E. Adams. January 28, 1945. Record Group 1325-003-053, Record of Delawareans Who Died in World War II. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://cdm16397.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15323coll6/id/17479/rec/1

McManus, John C. The Americans at Normandy: The Summer of 1944—The American War from the Normandy Beaches to Falaise. Forge Books, 2004.

Morning Reports for Antitank Company, 253rd Infantry Regiment. December 1943 – February 1944. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1943-12/85713825_1943-12_Roll-0217/85713825_1943-12_Roll-0217-19.pdf, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/460252987?objectPage=734, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/460252987?objectPage=736, https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1944-02/85713825_1944-02_Roll-0083/85713825_1944-02_Roll-0083-16.pdf

Morning Reports for Antitank Company, 253rd Infantry Regiment. September 1943. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1943-09/85713825_1943-09_Roll-0309/85713825_1943-09_Roll-0309-02.pdf

Morning Reports for Antitank Company, 359th Infantry Regiment. February 1944 – April 1944. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1944-02/85713825_1944-02_Roll-0303/85713825_1944-02_Roll-0303-08.pdf, https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1944-03/85713825_1944-03_Roll-0144/85713825_1944-03_Roll-0144-01.pdf, https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1944-03/85713825_1944-03_Roll-0634/85713825_1944-03_Roll-0634-20.pdf, https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1944-04/85713825_1944-04_Roll-0505/85713825_1944-04_Roll-0505-08.pdf

Morning Reports for Receiving Company “B,” 1229th Reception Center. September 1943. U.S. Army Morning Reports, c. 1912–1946. Record Group 64, Records of the National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/partners/st-louis/rg-064/85713825-wwii/85713825_1943-09/85713825_1943-09_Roll-0006/85713825_1943-09_Roll-0006-15.pdf

“Mrs. Lillian M. Carmine.” The Morning News, February 26, 1976. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84581528/lillian-carmine-obituary/

“Pfc. Adams’ Funeral Will Be Held Sunday.” Journal-Every Evening, July 8, 1948. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58380711/pfc-ralph-e-adams/

“PFC Ralph E. Adams.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47702776/ralph-e_-adams

“Ralph Adams is Killed in France.” The Newark Post, August 3, 1944. https://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/18940/np_035_26.pdf

Stanton, Shelby L. World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division 1939–1946. Revised ed. Stackpole Books, 2006.

“Table of Organization and Equipment No. 7-19: Infantry Antitank Company, 57-mm Gun.” War Department, February 26, 1944. Military Research Service website. http://www.militaryresearch.org/7-19%2026Feb44.pdf

Last updated on November 21, 2024