Page 6 - 2015 Veterans

6C – Wednesday, November 11, 2015 – El Dorado NEWS-TIMES
Adams says camaraderie is special part of service
By Kelsey Womack kwomack@ eldoradonews.com
“It was all just a pride, a camara- derie that just can’t be explained in words. You are charged with probably some of the highest re- gard to the finest nation in the world,” Steve Adams explained.
Following a family legacy, Ad- ams enlisted in the Army Re- serves in 1986.
“My father and grandfather served and my brother was serv- ing, so it was just something I wanted to do,” he said.
An E4 specialist, he began his career with the 321st MMC in El Dorado, starting with basic train- ing at Fort Leonard Wood and moving on to Fort Lee, Va., for advanced individual training.
He graduated, and in December 1988, he went on active duty.
“I was ordered to serve at Fort Campbell in Kentucky and then
I was with the Echo Troop, 2nd squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, the 101st Airborne Division. From there, I received orders to report to Augsburg, Germany, and I re- ported there in 1990,” he said.
During this time, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm had started during the Gulf War. Adams was deployed to Saudi Arabia, which he explains was defined as a combat zone.
“We deployed in January 1991, right before President Bush’s deadline for them to comply with the resolutions, and they didn’t. I think it was probably just a few days before that deadline came and went and Desert Storm came into affect. We were there until April of that year and then went back to Germany,” he explained.
After coming back to Germany, he was with the Company 204 Military Intelligence Battalion.
“We had a task force that de-
ployed, and we were military in- telligence people. That was the main objective in all things they do. Mostly, it was gathering intel- ligence and blocking the enemy’s intelligence to a degree. It was in a service platoon. You had your vehicle mechanics, your parts people, and I handled the equip- ment records and parts, the his- torical records and maintenance and deadline records,” he said.
see how many get injured and killed, we just have such a re- spect for those guys and girls. I can’t imagine what they have had to endure but they do it freely, it’s not a matter of obligation to serve, we do this by choice,” he explained.
He explained that the military is so much more than the train- ing a soldier receives, but teaches so many lesson in many facets of life.
munity, Adams enjoys spending time with his family.
“I have a son that lives in Ver- mont, and he has a daughter with his girlfriend. My second mar- riage I got two stepsons and we have one child together. We have all boys and then one grandson, two granddaughters and a grand- child on the way,” he said.
Discharged as an E4, Adams ex- plained that though military per- sonnel appreciate other’s thanks, they don’t do it for recognition.
“We do it because we know there is a mission to be done and completed, and we do it on our own free will, not necessari- ly because we were told to do it. If it were that way, we probably wouldn’t serve in either capaci- ty. When it comes right down to it, yeah, it’s protecting and serv- ing your country, but we also do it for the person right next to us.”
His unit stayed until February
1992 and was processed back to “It’s just an experience that is
the United States. Even in his inactive status, Adams was sub- ject to call back if needed, but he was not deployed again. When he came back to the area, he decided to become a police officer for the El Dorado Police Department, where he continues to work — serving his community as he served his country.
“To go into an area like that and come back unscathed, when you
invaluable in life as a whole. It teaches self-discipline that is ap- plicable to your whole life. Some- thing so worthy, a confidence and a self-accomplishment, there is a balance, a completeness and you have a greater respect for what others before you have gone and gotten wounded and died for. Be- ing a part of that brotherhood is just an amazing sense,” he said.
When he’s not serving his com-
Mission secrecy stays with Tucker to this day
By Joan Hershberger jhershberger@eldora- donews.com
It was a mission so se- cret that not even the men on the ship knew about it and yet decades later Jim Tucker points to scars on his head which he incurred during Operation Argus. Operation Argus was the only clandestine nuclear test series in 17 years of his- tory of atmospheric testing in South Atlantic.
“We left California and sailed down along the western side of South America to the south At- lantic to set off the bombs near the three islands of Tristan da Cunha in 1958,” he said. The ship left Port Hueneme went around Cape Horn, where they en- countered a big iceberg in August.
“It was a secret mission. Even the men sent to per- form it had no idea of its goals for a year or more. We did not know about it when we left base and did not learn anything about it for a year after,” he assert- ed.
“We were doing usual
thing. I was exposed to ion- ized radiation. I have scar on my head as a result — so they say,” he said tipping his head to show the scars.
The secrecy of the mis- sion mandated no radio communication back with the mainland for 33 days. “We had a guy on there in the same division. The poor gentleman lost his wife in a car accident. He was told about it in the first week of the cruise but he could not contact anybody or anything. He could not communicate until we got to Rio de Janeiro.”
“In Oct. 1958 we got let- ters about classified oper- ations with Task Force 88 as a crew member of the U.S.S. Norton Sound. We were sent congratulato- ry message afterward that said. ‘We are proud of your entire force for successful accomplishment of your mission.’”
“It was years later be- fore we found out anything about it. It was in the news- papers a year later. We did not know what we had done,” Tucker said.
“What is so ironic about
the situation is that we would go up in the han- gar bay two or three times a week and have a talent show and watch movies. The missiles were stored right beside us and we knew nothing about it. We were exposed to radiation right there. I had others guys serving with me. Two of those have expired. I don’t know if it is related to this particular thing. One family did develop cancer 20 years later,” Tucker said.
ticipation in Operation ARGUS from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
“They did test some peo- ple to see the amount of the (radiation) dose they received,” he said.
Decades after the 1958 test, the secret mission has lingering effects. Since 2006, Tucker said he has had skin cancer in numerous places. He has been treated at the Veter- an’s Administration in Lit- tle Rock. He and his wife have a claim against the VA for their children. One was born with a rare skin disease and passed away a few years ago. Their younger son, Bill Tuck- er developed cancer as a young adult.
in bookkeeping and typ- ing immediately qualified him to serve first under the chaplain and then in the personnel office in ad- ministration. That’s where he was the day his ship left California on a secret mis- sion of the coast of South America.
Tucker also served as the talker for the captain of the ship, down below where they guided the ship. Tell- ing them during refueling the ship at sea and replen- ishing supplies, things of that nature.
Tucker’s memories of that voyage include the rit- ual initiation of shipmates crossing the equator for the first time.
“They actually beat you. We were packed tight. They made you crawl through a big culvert and inside they had chicken entrails. It was smelly, ter- rible. They sprayed mus- tard on you. You had to kiss a big Filipino man on the stomach. Everyone had to do it, even the civilians there for research and the second in command. They cut your hair and they put
some kind of stuff like tar on a man’s head.”
In 1959 he married Mar- tha McCleskey.
And went on short trips off the coast of California in weekly exercises. He asked for transfer to air- craft carrier, M59, and went overseas to Japan during the Cumo and Matzo en- counter when Chinese tried to got extended over there. “I didn’t really know what was going on in the south China sea until they told us what was going on. We were awarded the armed forces expedition- ary medal.”
“I got assigned to an air- craft carrier in July and Au- gust 1959. They were going over seas, I had just mar- ried Martha. When I went aboard, and they found out I had just married, they as- signed me to a shore task of typing dog tags for 4,000 men while the ship went out to sea.” He said this kept him on land and go- ing home to his wife during their first months of mar- riage.
In Oct. 1960, Tucker’s commitment ended.
Eventually he began
to hear the real story. “A
year or two years later,
they said it was supposed
to be one of the most im-
portant encounters at
the time. Nuclear bombs
were exploded, one low “There has been a doctor and two up higher in the
air. They were testing the
Van Allen radiation belt
to see how it would react. Tucker entered the The British owned some
of the islands at the time,
I am not sure they were
notified. There were peo-
ple living on the islands,”
he said.
In later years he received a letter confirming his par-
Navy in Oct. 1956. Tucker, a 1955 graduate of Spears- ville High school, went to basic training in San Di- ego. “It was a lot different back then. It is a lot easier now.”
Hall of Names illustrate's human cost of war
By Joan Hershberger jhershberger@eldora- donews.com
The reality of war presses hard in the Room of Names at the Veteran’s Memorial Museum in Branson, Mo. Two 30 feet walls on each side and the end wall of 10 feet speak volumes in their silent display that simply list more than 400,000 names of the men and women killed in action during WWII. The names run one after another in row after row, column af- ter column down the 10 feet high walls around the room.
The room of names dis- plays only one other item: a shipping box typically used for sending their bod- ies home for burial. Not all came home, many remain buried where they fell.
The starkness of the hall gives space to view and consider the number of men and women who paid the ultimate price for the freedom every veteran has served to protect. Silent- ly guests study the alpha-
betized lists searching for someone they knew or that a friend has asked them to check.
The museum honors all of the fallen in other wars of the 20th century. For World War I, one coin sized face on the wall stands for two of the troops who fell during the century’s first conflict.
An end wall lists the more than 36,000 fatalities of the Korean War. In the next room the Vietnam Conflict requires more wall space for the 58,209 who fell in the Vietnam War.
Except for the Hall of Names with a coffin sized shipping box, the oth- er rooms of the museum hold uniforms, equipment, photographs and weapons from the war or military actions being memorial- ized. The artifacts hint at the life and experiences of those who served.
The impact of war hits fully in the solitary, si- lent room with the walls covered with names, just names.
We Salute Our Veterans!
Thank you for the tremendous sacrifices you have made to defend us and our freedoms that we all too often take for granted.
News-Times/ Joan Hershberger Besides a casket, only respectful silence fills the Room of Names at the Veteran’s Memorial Mu- seum in Branson, Mo. The names of the more than 400,000 men and women killed in action in World War II cover three walls. The names run one after another, row after row, column after column down the 10 feet high walls on two 30 feet long walls and
the end wall of 10 feet.
Thank you to all Veterans and Thank you to our employees who served.
or two that said it was pos- sible, but there is no con- crete evidence,” he said.
His high school classes
Heroes don’t wear capes ...
They wear dog tags.
Thank you, Veterans,
for your service to our country!
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