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Leo Carl Adams
1917-1943

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, to sleep in peace."

Victor Hugo

Army Private First Class Leo Carl Adams was born in southwest Doddridge County, West Virginia, on October 17, 1917. He was the oldest son of Claude E. and Edna Richards Adams, of Porto Rico, Doddridge County. Leo's grandfather, A. S. Richards, lived in Troy. According to the 1930 Census, their large household also included Raymon [sic] D., Claude L., Norman O., twins Irene E. and Ilene E., Georgie A., and Cathleen M.

Little else is known of his life or death, but the World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Air Forces Personnel from West Virginia lists Pfc. Leo C. Adams as having died in Los Angeles, California, on April 30, 1943, in non-battle circumstances. A brief death notice in the West Union Record (May 6, 1943) states that 25-year-old Pfc. Adams accidentally drowned on the California coast near the Army camp where he had been assigned.

The West Union Record article goes on to say that his surviving sisters are Irene, Ilene, Georgia, and Dorothy May (who is not listed in the 1930 Census, so she may have been born later). Also, Cathleen and Norman are not listed in the death notice. However, at the time of Leo's death, Raymond Doyle was serving the U.S. Army overseas, and Claude Lee was in the Army stationed at Camp Beale, California.

Article contributed by Patricia Richards McClure.

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West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.


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