LEAVENWORTH — Donald and Barbara Adams had already bought their airline tickets and were eager to greet their son in a few weeks when he returned to Fort Carson, Colo., after a year in Iraq.
Then came a knock on the door of their Leavenworth home on Tuesday.
The Army colonel told them that their son, 1st Lt. Michael R. Adams, 24, had been killed earlier that day in Iraq in a convoy on the way to Kuwait to prepare for the return home.
Now they are preparing to fly to New York to bury their son at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Adams said his son was riding in a tank when it was struck by a passing vehicle, causing a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on the tank to strike him on the back of the head. He was pronounced dead at a combat support hospital.
"It was very much an accident," said Adams, a nature photographer in Leavenworth.
Michael Adams, a 1998 graduate of Kentridge High School in Kent, was deployed to the Middle East last April. He was a tank platoon leader with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment of Fort Carson, Colo., commanding a group of 15 men.
Donald Adams said he received an e-mail from his son two days before the accident saying, "The next time you hear from me, it’ll be from Kuwait."
He was scheduled to arrive back in Colorado with his platoon on April 6 or 7.
"He was really looking forward to coming home," Adams said. "He loved what he did, but he was ready to come home. He loved Leavenworth, and he loved being home with family."
Before he left for Iraq last year, Adams spent the Christmas holidays with his family in Leavenworth, his father said.
"When I took him to the Wenatchee airport after Christmas, he told me ‘Dad, I just want you to know that I’m not afraid that something will happen to me. My only fear is that I would make a mistake that would get one of my guys injured or killed.’ His entire focus, his only goal was to make sure his 15 guys all came back alive."
Of the 15 men in the platoon he commanded, Adams was the only one killed during their year-long tour of duty. Three others were injured, and one survived a Chinook helicopter crash.
"He was able to accomplish his goal. All of his guys were able to return to their families," Adams said.
Adams said his son felt "a calling" to serve in the military, and planned to be a career officer. "The motto at West Point is ‘Duty, honor, country.’ He embraced those ideals."
He was an avid outdoorsmen and loved flyfishing and hunting, Adams said, and had a "very strong belief and faith in Christ."
Donald and Barbara Adams moved to Leavenworth in 2000, while their son was enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. They own Northwest Photography Gallery in downtown Leavenworth.
Their daughter, MaryLynn Adams, is a junior at Central Washington University and an ROTC cadet.
Adams’ body was returned to the United States on Wednesday, and he will be buried at West Point, his father said. The family also may hold a memorial service in Leavenworth, he said.
"Michael had tremendous support from everyone here in Leavenworth who knew us and him," Adams said.
"We feel very privileged, as parents, to have had him for the short 24 years that we knew him. He lived life very fully. He did not ever waste a minute."
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