Corporal Maurice Robert Adams United States Army, World War II

August 2, 2016 - “Rangers Lead The Way”

On 6 June 1944, during the assault landing on Dog White sector of Omaha Beach as part of the invasion of Normandy, then Brigadier General Norman Cota (assistant CO of the 29th ID) approached Major Max Schneider, CO of the 5th Ranger Battalion and asked "What outfit is this?", Schneider answered "5th Rangers, Sir!" To this, Cota replied "Well, goddamnit, if you're Rangers, lead the way!" From this, the Ranger motto—"Rangers lead the way!"—was born.
Rangers are an elite military fighting group of the United States Army and the term Ranger has been around since the 17th century.  The modern 75th Ranger Regiment was activated in 1984 and it selected the “Merrill’s Marauders” as the unit the regiment would draw its lineage from. 
MM PatchOn October 3rd, 1943 a call for volunteers was put out for a “particularly hazardous self-sacrificing” secret operation commanded by Brigadier General Frank Merrill.  The mission called for going behind Japanese lines in Burma and wage a slashing, hit and run style warfare.  Of those who answered the call, Army war correspondent David Richardson, then age 27 said “We were an amazing crew.  We had Harvard intellectuals, spit and polish West Pointers, tough dead-end kids with criminal records from the Bronx, farm boys from out West, Sioux Indians from a reservation, and Japanese-American interpreters whose families had been incarcerated.  We melded well with a gun-ho attitude and thought we were special”. 
 
I’m not sure where Shelby County’s Maurice Adams fit in this melding pot but he joined the “Marauders” in November, 1943 as they were training in India.  In February 1944 Maurice was among the 2,997 officers and men who went into combat against a numerically superior Japanese force.  The Marauders marched and fought through 700 miles of mountains and jungles in a drive to clear northern Burma of Japanese forces so that the Ledo Road could be completed to form a land route with China.  In five major and 30 minor engagements, the Marauders met and defeated the Japanese from the Jukawng Valley in northwestern Burma to Myitkyina along the Irrawaddy River. They began their attack with nearly 700 horses and mules which were used as pack animals, but the attrition rate of the animals was very high because of the rigors of the campaign.  For their accomplishments in Burma the Marauders were awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation in July 1944 and they have the distinction of having every member of the unit receive the “Bronze Star”.

The Marauders, officially known as the 5037th Composite Group was inactivated on August 10th, 1944 but a new regiment, the 475th was formed to carry on the tradition.  Most of the original Marauders were returned home under the provisions of a new Army regulation that provided for the rotation of individuals with over two years foreign service.

Maurice, the son of William Paschael (Kinnie) Adams (1890 – 1959) and Eva Samford Adams (1892 – 1915) was given a disability discharge at the station hospital in Torrence, California on March 28th, 1945.  He had served his country for over 10 years and helped “lead the way” for Army Rangers to follow.  After discharge he returned to the place that he loved and described in a 1943 Christmas letter home from Burma that was published in the Champion Newspaper.  “I have seen the Davis Mountains, the Sacramento, the Mountains of West Virginia, the Mountains of Vermont and the mountains in India, North Africa and Burma, but in the spring when everything is in bloom, Shelby County is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  It is my home”.

Born on October 26th, 1913, Maurice died on October 13th, 1981, thirteen days before his 68th birthday in what was called a freak accident while working on his pick-up truck at his Shelbyville residence.  At the time of his death his obituary stated that he was survived by his wife, Vivian of Center; two sons, Kinnie Adams of Shelbyville, William Boyd Adams of Houston; three daughters, Mrs. LaMorris Thompson of Richmond, Mrs. Eva Haynie of Houston and Mrs. Rebecca Bradshaw of Center; a twin sister, Mrs. Daurice Murphy (1913-2005) of Center and five grandchildren.  Maurice is buried in the Garden of Faith, Oaklawn Memorial Park, Center, Texas.

Merrill’ Marauders Patch, Combat Infantryman Badge, Ranger Tap, Distinguished Unit Citation, Bronze Star Medal, American Defense Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal. World War II Victory Medal

(Sources:  Wikipedia.org, 7/28/2016; Book, Men and Women of Shelby County in World War II; Champion Newspaper, January 18, 1945; The East Texas Light, October 15, 1981; www.army.mil/ranger, July 28, 2016; marauder.org, July 30, 2016)