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Morrisville Marine Killed In Iraq Wanted To 'Fight The
Terrorists'18 October 2005

Before there were tears, there was plenty of
laughter in 24-year-old Marine Sergeant Mark Adams' family.

"He was the typical life-of-the-party guy,"
Marshall Adams recalled of his brother.

A member of the Marine Forces Reserve's II
Marine Expeditionary Force Augmentation Command Element from Camp Lejeune,
Sergeant Adams died Saturday after a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle
in Saqlawiyah, Iraq. He was standing in the machine gun turret of the armored
Humvee, the only position on the truck that was exposed. No one else on
the vehicle was hurt.

Those who knew Sergeant Adams best said his
journey as a man started on the Cary High School wrestling team and led
him to the heart of one of the most dangerous places on earth.

He first joined the Marines after he graduated
in 1999. After his enlistment ran out, he returned home and was helping
coach his high school’s wrestling team when his parents said he felt compelled
to re-enlist because he wanted to fight terrorism.

His father, Phillip Adams, remembered the conversation
he had with his son when he chose to go back to the Marines.

"He told me, 'You’re either going to fight
the terrorists over here or over there,'" Phillip Adams said. "As a parent,
my reaction is, 'Son, you can get killed over there.' He told me, 'Daddy,
that's war.'"

One of the last things Rene Adams said she
told her son was that God was in control.

"If it's not your time to go, then you'll be
back," she told him. "And if it is, I know God's in control."

Control was something Sgt. Adams relied on,
but in the end, it was something he could not control that ended his life
-- a roadside bomb. That was the one thing that his brothers, who also
served in the military, feared most for their brother.

As for Phillip Adams', his son's fate is a
source of both pride and pain.

"I am so thankful -- I've never experienced
anything like this," he said. "(I) never thought I could hurt as bad as
I'm hurting, but I've never been as proud -- not only of Mark, but of every
one of those Marines and Army and Navy and Air Force -- every one of them."

The 38th soldier from North Carolina to die
in Iraq, Sergeant Adams will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
18 October 2005:

The Defense Department says a Marine Corps
reservist from North Carolina was killed by a roadside bomb last week during
combat in Iraq.

Adams, 24, was a member of the Marine Forces
Reserve's II Marine Expeditionary Force Augmentation Command Element from
Camp Lejeune.

Adams had served in the Marines and had returned
to the Triangle to help coach wrestling at Cary High School and attend
college.

He was one of the top wrestlers in the state
during his senior year at Cary High.

His father, Philip Adams, said his son was
excited about what he was doing in Iraq and had called him a few days before
he was killed.
A Marine Corps reservist from North Carolina who rejoined
the Marines only after a recruiter assured him that he would be deployed
to Iraq was killed by a roadside bomb, authorities said.

Family members said the Marines who told them
of Adams' death said Adams was standing in the machine gun turret of the
armored Humvee, which is the only position on the truck that's exposed.
No one else on the vehicle was hurt, The News & Observer of Raleigh
reported.

His brother, Mike, 25, said that before Mark
Adams left for Iraq, he mentioned a sergeant who had said he wouldn't take
the turret. Although it's unusual for a platoon leader to sit there, Mark
Adams said he wouldn't ask Marines to take on a duty he was unwilling to
do.

"That was Mark," said Marshall Adams, the 28-year-old
brother of Mark Adams.

Adams was a member of the Marine Forces Reserve's
II Marine Expeditionary Force Augmentation Command Element from Camp Lejeune.

He first joined the Marines after he graduated
in 1999. And after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he did duty
in the Pacific, which frustrated him, Mike Adams said.

So when his enlistment ran out, he returned
home.

In June, he told the Marine Corps he would
return on the condition he was sent to Iraq.

His father, Phillip, spoke with him Thursday,
when Mark Adams was in a good mood, partially because he had been promoted
to platoon leader.

"He was a Marine's Marine, and he was doing
exactly what he wanted to do," his father said.

25 October 2005:

A Morrisville Marine will be laid to rest in
Arlington National Cemetery.

Mark Adams, 24, was killed when a roadside
bomb exploded near his Humvee last week.

A funeral for Adams was held in Cary on Saturday.
Fellow wrestlers, Marines, family and friends all came to honor the life
that was taken too early.

Shrapnel from a roadside bomb may have claimed
Adams’ life but it did not take his memory from the countless people he
touched.

“He was younger than me but I looked up to
him,” a fellow Marine said. “He taught me about values, good family. He
was a good-hearted man.”

After helping his Cary wrestling team win state,
Adams enlisted in the Marines and served his country for four years. Adams
then spent a year working, going to school and volunteering as an assistant
wrestling coach at Cary High.

“He was a leader so when he was in charge of
something or a leader he did a good job of it,” said his mom, Rene' Adams.

Adams re-enlisted in the Marines and was in
his first month of service in Iraq when his family got the news of his
death.

“And I told my son, ‘Mark, you can get killed
over there’ and I'll never forget these words he said, ’Daddy, I'm not
afraid to die for my country,’” added Adams’ father, Phillip Adams.

Adams is the youngest of three brothers who
are all serving their country. He will be laid to rest Tuesday afternoon
at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

3 Servicemen, 3 Stories of DedicationBurials at Arlington Honor Those Who Fought
in IraqBy Lila de TantilloCourtesy of the Washington PostWednesday, October 26, 2005

Three men who chose to risk their lives for
their country by serving in Iraq were laid to rest yesterday at Arlington
National Cemetery. One had switched military branches to pursue his dream
of flying helicopters; another could have retired but chose to remain in
the service; and a third decided to reenlist on the condition that he be
sent to Iraq.

Chief Warrant Officer Dennis
Patrick Hay of Valdosta, Georgia, was killed August 29, 2005, when
the helicopter he was piloting was attacked by enemy fire in Tal Afar,
Iraq, near the Syrian border. Hay, 32, was assigned to the 4th Squadron,
3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, of Fort Carson, Colorado.

Rebecca
Hay holds her daughter, Abigail, next to relatives during a service for
her husband, Chief Warrant Officer Dennis Hayof
Valdosta, Georig1a. "Dennis went back for a second tour because of the
Iraqi children," a friend said.

A horse-drawn caisson led a procession through
rain and blustery wind yesterday from the U.S. Coast Guard Memorial to
Hay's final resting place. A military band played "America the Beautiful"
as an honor guard folded the flag covering the urn that held Hay's ashes.
Major General Charles Wilson presented the flag to Hay's wife, Rebecca.
Hay also was mourned by his children, Jacob and Abigail, parents Barry
and Patty, brother Barry and sister Bridgette.

"The most important thing to Dennis was that
he wanted people to know that he had a relationship with God, and he wanted
to make sure that other people did, too," said Misty Ricks, 30, a friend
from Brunswick, Georgia, who had known Hay for more than a decade from
Agape Christian Fellowship in St. Marys, Georgia.

Ricks knew Hay as an adventurous guy in her
youth group who rode a BMX bike and liked to use it to do stunts -- but
only if he could execute the thrill-seeking maneuvers safely.

Hay had served as a parajumper in the Air Force
before applying for a transfer several years ago to the Army so he could
train to become a helicopter pilot. He hoped to use the skill one day as
a missionary to bring aid to those in need.

"Dennis went back for a second tour because
of the Iraqi children," Ricks said, adding that he had told her that if
others could see the difference the United States was making in the young
Iraqis' future, "they would understand why he was going back."

Lieutenant Colonel Leon
Gifford James II of Sackets Harbor, New York, was wounded September
26, 2005, in Baghdad when an explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
He died October 10, 2005, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. James, 46,
was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 314th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd
Brigade, 78th Division, based at Fort Drum, New York.

Friends said that James, who served as an elder
at United Presbyterian Church in Sackets Harbor and helped manage its finances,
had been eligible to retire from the service. But he decided to stay to
fight for a cause he believed in. He kept in excellent shape -- even outrunning
men two decades his junior in training drills, his friends said.

For James's full-honors funeral, a team of
dark horses led the procession from the Old Post Chapel. A military band
played "Amazing Grace" as the flag-draped coffin -- covered with a clear
plastic sheath to protect it from the rain -- was brought to the grave
site. Major General Wayne Erck presented the flag to James's wife, Silvia,
who was accompanied by their children, Maria, Rachael and Kathryn.

A Marine honor guard from the barracks at Eighth
and I streets NW in Washington carried Adams's gray coffin to a grave site
near a memorial to those who died serving in Somalia. Navy chaplain Robert
Rearick delivered a sermon before the guard presented a folded U.S. flag
to Gunnery Sergeant Barry L. Baker, who knelt before Adams's father, Phillip
Adams, to hand him the tribute.

Mark Adams was the youngest of three sons,
all of whom served in the military. As a freshman, he joined the wrestling
team at Cary High School in North Carolina, and by all accounts his performance
at first was terrible. But over several years, he worked to strengthen
his body and refine his technique. By his senior year, he was chosen as
captain, and the team won a state championship.

Adams joined the Marines shortly after graduation
but saw little action during several years stationed in the Pacific. He
returned to his home town near Raleigh, where he volunteered as a coach
for the wrestling team, but soon decided to return to the service.

Jean Tursam, 57, a longtime family friend,
said the elder Adams told the 600 people who attended a memorial service
at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary about his son's motivation.

" 'We're going to choose to fight them in Iraq
or we're going to choose to fight them here,' " Mark Adams had said.

Tursam said that even after the young Marine
was promoted to platoon leader, he still chose to take the dangerous position
in the turret of the Humvee, where he was killed by a piece of shrapnel.
"He wouldn't ask his men to do something he wouldn't do himself," she said.

Hay, James and Adams were the 181st, 182nd
and 183rd service members killed in the Iraq conflict to be buried at the
cemetery.
Posted: 18 October 2005 Updated: 25 October 2005
Updated: 26 October 2005 Updated: 2 January 2006