Howard Gaines Adams, Private First Class, US Army, SN 34265785

Howell Gaines Adams was born on 10 January 1916 in Elberton, Georgia, to Howell Parker Adams and Hope Adams. Both Howell Parker and Hope were from Georgia. Howell Parker was a farmer. Howell Gaines had three older brothers, two younger brothers and two younger sisters. The family lived in Centerville, Georgia. Howell Gaines younger brother Charles served in the US Army during WW II and survived the war. The family were Protestants.

Howell G Adams completed four years of high school and in 1940 was working in Atlanta as a baker for the Dortch Baking Company. Howell Gaines registered for the draft on 16 October 1940 with thousands of young American men. Howell Gaines received an induction notice in early 1942 and enlisted in the US Army as a Private (PVT) on 21 March 1942 at Fort McPherson, in Atlanta Georgia.

After induction and basic training PVT Adams was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division (7th ID). The 7th ID was training in the Mojave Desert in 1942 in preparation for combat as a Motorized Infantry Division to deploy to North Africa. The 7th ID was tasked in March 1943 to be the assault element to retake Attu Island, Alaska from the Japanese Army. Howell was promoted to Private First Class (PFC) while assigned to 7th ID during late 1942 or early 1943.

Attu and Kiska Islands are part of the Aleutian Chain in Alaska and had been seized by Imperial Japanese Forces on 6 June 1942 as part of large Japanese Naval Offensive. There was no opposition to either landing. A small US Navy Weather Reporting Station on Kiska consisting of 10 personnel was captured and the US Navy sailors were sent to Japan as prisoners of war. The Island of Attu was captured by a Japanese Army Infantry battalion.

Attu village at the time consisted of 43 Aleuts (Unanagin) and a female schoolteacher and her husband. The Japanese later transported the Aleuts as prisoners to Japan. The schoolteacher Etta Jones was also transported to Japan as a prisoner. Etta’s husband Foster Jones was executed by the Japanese on 7 June 1942 and buried by the Attu Villagers at the Russian Orthodox Church graveyard. At the end of the war 25 of the original 43 Aleuts from Attu were repatriated to the US. The remaining 18 died of disease and malnutrition in Japan.

The 7th ID landed on Attu Island, Alaska Territory on 11 May 1943. PFC Adams landed in Massacre Bay with the Southern Force as part of Operation LANDCRAB. The 7th ID endured extreme conditions on Attu, rain, snow, interment fog, and howling winds known in the Aleutians as Williwaws. The terrain of Attu and the Aleutians was a unique battlefield for the Pacific in WW II. There are no native trees in the Aleutians. Without trees the only concealment consisted of the fog, folds in the terrain, and smaller bushes such as Salmonberry or Alder. The low ground in the valleys of Attu consist of muskeg, a spongey crust of decayed vegetation floating on top of mud and water. This terrain allowed for engagements at distances of 300 to 500 yards for small arms and 500 to 1000 yards for heavy weapons such 37mm anti-tank guns and heavy machine guns on tripods. The enemy occupied the high ground on the surrounding ridges of Massacre Valley and were able to engage the advancing American Infantry in preplanned engagement areas with rifle and machine gun fire.

The terrain complicated logistic support for the advancing infantry. It was impossible for vehicles to go farther than the beach. All the supplies had to be hand carried forward and all the casualties had to be hand carried to the rear.

After 7th ID seized Jarmin Pass the Japanese began to withdraw to the Chichagof Harbor and Attu Village Site. By 29 May 1943, the remaining IJA troops and support personnel had been pushed into the Chichagof Harbor area near the remnants and rubble of Attu Village. The Japanese Commander Colonel (COL) Yasuyo Yamasaki planned one final action, a deliberate attack against the US lines with the objective of breaking through and seizing the American Artillery in Massacre Valley and seizing American food stuffs. This attack was the first mass Banzai attack of an entire Japanese garrison that Americans faced in the Pacific during WW II. At approximately 0330 hours 29 May 1943 COL Yamasaki Samurai Sword in hand led the charge toward the American lines.

Private First-Class Howell Gaines Adams was killed on 29 May 1943 during the climatic Japanese Banzai Attack on Attu. PFC Adams was 27 years old at the time of his death. He was not married and had no children. PFC Adams was initially interned at the Little Falls Military Cemetery on Attu. In 1948 PFC Adams along with all those killed on Attu Island were disinterred. PFC Adams was transported to Georgia and is buried at the Cold Water Cemetery, Elberton, Georgia. PFC Adams was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal.

Author’s Note:

At the writing of this memorial the author was unable to find PFC Adams Company, Battalion or Regiment of assignment when he was killed in action.

The Battle of Attu was one the toughest fights the US Army has ever been committed in. Due to Attu’s location, weather, and terrain the fight was one the costliest considering the number engaged. The summation of the Battle Attu by the US Army Center for Military History states:

“Out of a force that totaled more than 15,000 men before the campaign ended, 549 Americans had given their lives on Attu, 1,148 had been wounded, and about 2,100 had been taken out of action by disease and nonbattle injuries. Most of the nonbattle casualties were exposure cases, victims of the climate and weather and of inadequate clothing. Trench foot was the most common affliction. The Japanese lost their entire force: approximately 2,350 enemy dead were counted and 29 taken prisoner. The price of victory was high. In terms of numbers engaged, Attu ranks as one of the most costly assaults in the Pacific. In terms of Japanese destroyed, the cost of taking Attu was second only to Iwo Jima: for every hundred of the enemy on the island, about seventy-one Americans were killed or wounded.”

At the end of the war 25 of the original 43 Aleuts from Attu were repatriated to the US. The remaining 18 died of disease and malnutrition in Japan. Most of the geographic names on the Eastern Side of Attu are named for Soldiers of 7th ID (often leaders) killed in action during the battle. Massacre Bay and Massacre Valley are named for a massacre of Aleuts by the Russians in the 18th Century. Attu was never resettled and was used for military purposes and later had a remote USCG presence until the 1990s. Today it is uninhabited.

This story was written by Dennis V. Dupras of Alaska, former Paratrooper (Airborne Infantryman of the 1st BN 325th AIR, 82nd ABN DIV), Infantry Officer of 1st BN 17th Infantry, and graduate of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Class of 1990. This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES:

Attu, WWII KIA (hlswilliwaw.com)

Personal Photo Collections of Ed Nielson son SSG Raymond Nielson Attu Veteran 17th IN, 7th ID

Attu: The Forgotten Battle, John Haile Cloe, US Government Printing Office 2017

“Guarding the United States and Its Outposts” by Stenson Conn, Rose C Engleman and Bryan Fairchild published by The Center for Military History, Washington DC 1962

Thoughts on the Sacrifice [ Gyokusai ] of the Attu Garrison – 玉砕　"Gyokusai" Shattered Like a Jewel: Last Stands of the Japanese Soldier In Their Own Words (wordpress.com)

Alphabetical Listing Battle Deaths 7th Infantry Division by Organization 30 June 1947 James LaVerdue Collection

“The Capture of Attu: A WW II Battle as Told by the Men who Fought There” by LT Robert Mitchell, Infantry Journal 1944, University of Nebraska Press 2000

“Attu The Forgotten Battle” by John H Cloe US Government Printing Office 2017

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46863923/howell-gains-adams

https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/discoveryui-content/view/1214:1102?tid=&pid=&queryId=11488985070b0ba8d409953d1f4edf71&_phsrc=uYm2980&_phstart=successSource

The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) · 3 Sep 1948, Fri · Page 32