TidepoolIndividuals

The Tidepool

Reflections of the Past

PAUL DeWITT ADAMS (LOVIC ERASTUS¹) was born October 06, 1906 in Heflin, Alabama, and died October 31, 1987 in Tampa, Florida. He married Mabel Gertrude D..

General Paul D. Adams was a graduate of West Point. Received 4^th star when Robert Mac Namara, Secretary of Defense, appointed him head of the Tactical Air Command/Stricom at McDill Airforce Base in Tampa, Florida.

Lieutenant General Paul D. Adams

Commanding General
Third Army
October 17, 1960 to October 2, 1961

General Paul DeWitt Adams was born in Alabama on 6 October 1906. Graduated from Marion Military Institute in 1924 and upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academy in 1928, he was commissioned in the Infantry.

His career highlights included:

1st SpecSerFc Kiska, 1943
Commanding Officer, 143d Infantry 36th Infantry Division, Mediterranean Theater and European Theater, 1944-45
Assistant Commanding General, 45th Infantry Division, European Theater, 1945
Headquarters, Army Ground Forces, 1946
Command and General Staff College, 1947-50
Student and Faculty Member, Army War College, 1950-51
Consecutively: Commanding General 25th Infantry Division, Chief of Staff X Corps, and Chief of Staff Eighth Army, Korean War, 1951-53
Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division, 1953
Commanding General, USAFIME, 1958
Concurrently: Commanding General, Third U.S. Army, and Commanding General, Fort McPherson, Georgia, 1960-61
Commander-in-Chief, Strike Command, 1961-66

General Adams retired in 1966. He was president of Paul D. Adams & Associates from 1966 to 1971. He died on 31 October 1987 in Tampa, Florida.

In 1958 August the helicopter he was traveling in Beirut Lebanon crashed 500 feet into the sea and he had to swim ashore.

He was described as working 10 hours a day 7 days a week.

obituary:

ADAMS, GEN. PAUL D., 81, of Tampa, died Saturday (Oct. 31, 1987). Born in Heflin, Ala., he came to Tampa in 1961. He was a graduate of West Point and served in the U.S. Army for more than 42 years. He was commander in chief of the U.S. Strike Command at MacDill Air Force Base. He served in 12 campaigns in World War II and Korea. He was the director of the operations and training department at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and assistant chief of staff of the Army's Operations Department. He also served a three-year term as a member of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission. Survivors include his son, Robert T., Tampa; a daughter, Marjorie Ruth, Clearwater, and two grandchildren. Curry & Son Funeral Home, Tampa.