Kenneth Carroll Adams was born on July 22, 1923 the oldest child of share croppers.  He was born in New Castle, Kentucky.  He was soon followed by 5 brothers and 2 sisters. Ken loved school and learning but his mother died of Tuberculosis when he was 14 so his formal education had to stop. Being the oldest he had to stay home and take care of his younger brothers and sisters.   His father remarried and soon found no reason for Ken to stay at home.  The best choice for him was to join the military along with his two brothers closest in age to him.  So being the oldest he led the way.  He joined the Army Air Corp and so did his two brothers.  In March 1943, he joined the Army Air Corp and was quickly sent to Walterborough, SC. While on a short leave home he married the cutest little girl he had ever seen. He did not have much money, in fact he had to borrow the 15 dollars to get the marriage license.  Their first meal together consisted of only hot dogs but their time together was short.  His training continued on the beaches of Miami so he thought he would be going to the South Pacific. 

In November his group was loaded on a train and headed north.  However they didn’t know this.  They were ordered off the train in their short sleeves from the beaches and found themselves in 4 inches of snow.  He later found out he were in Massachusetts.  They were soon loaded on a ship and glad to be out of the cold.  They were finally matched up with their duffle bags and none to soon for they proceeded north toward Cananda and Iceland.  He didn’t get sea sick the first day so he thought all was well. There were about 15,000 men on the ship so they took turns doing everything from eating to sleeping. There were only enough beds for half of them so his shift was to sleep in the day and work through the night. His first visit to the gally seemed OK until others started getting sick and the place smelled so bad he had to get out of there.  He ate candy bars for the remaining days on the ship and never went to the gally again. It was at this point that he was really glad he hadn’t joined the Navy.  The second day out he also got sea sick and spent the next 24 hours on deck heaving over board.  It was also his first taste of battle.  They were in a convey of ships and one of the small ships in the convoy was torpetoed and shunk by a submarine. 

They arrived in Glasgow, Scotland Nov. 16, 1943.   Next to Grimsby, England, which was a holding area to give troops their assignments.  While there he learned to ride a bicycle for the first time in order to be able to ride out to the service area for the planes 4 times a day.  While here he volunteered to go to gunnery school in Northern Ireland.

Soon he received his assignment to go to the Bury St Edmunds area where he was assigned to a specialty compliment which was always assigned to other groups and could operate the whole airfield. This was called the 68th Station Complement with the 8th Air Force.

While at Bury St. Edmunds he had very nice quarters with only 2 people per room with a fireplace and even indoor bathrooms. You could walk into town and for the first time he had money to spend.  He visited areas close by the base and ventured out as far as he could.

He was assigned to a Recon Group using the radio equipment to relay messages from fighter planes. It was necessary to go to briefings at 2 AM in order to be ready to fly out that day. Every time planes went up the Recon Group also went up.  His title was Flight Engineer which meant he did about everything related to the plane.  He would mix the fuel for the plane and get it ready to fly as well as fly with the group. Also, while stationed at the Air Base he drove jeeps and trucks for officers, and had gunnery duty. 

On D-Day he relayed messages for 6 missions and the Recon Group stayed out all day. 50 planes were sent out that day but only 35 returned.  He lost some good friends that day.  Everything went haywire on this day and they knew something big was happening, but they really didn’t have a clue it was D-Day. 

Some of his memories are the sound of bombs PTTT, PTTTT in the sky.  One hit the mess hall but there were only a few injuries because it was not at a meal time.  One time a B-24's wheel gave out and took out a whole mechanics crew on the ground.  

When  Victory in Europe Day (VED) came he was on leave in York when the  announcement came over the loud speakers and radio.  The Town went wild;  dancing, singing, and drinking in the streets.  He overstayed his leave and got KP the next day.  Here he met the actor Jimmy Stewart who was a pilot at the town of Peterborough.  His KP duty was serving the officers, so meeting Jimmy Stewart was worth the duty.  .

After VED  May 8, 1945, the company was broken up. Some guys went home, while others went to the South Pacific.  The war in Europe was over but he did not get to go home.  They sent him along with many others to Germany as peace monitors.  He was sent to South Hampton (Plymouth) and took a ferry to France to catch a train to be part of the Occupation Forces of Europe.  

He will never forget the train ride to Germany.  It was long and cold.  When they stopped at a train station, they spotted an empty building with a warm stove inside.  Along with several of his buddies, he got off the train got the stove and put it in the train car.  They were warm for the rest of the ride. 

He didn’t do much in Germany but watch.  He did get to go to Switzerland for some R & R and he tried to skiing but pretty unsuccessfully, but he tried.

Soon it was off to home to his pretty war bride.  She had saved her money that she received from the Army so along with a VA loan they were able to buy a farm of about 100 areas. Ken was the first land owner in his family. 

About 10 years after returning home he contracted TB, the dreaded disease that had taken the life of his mother.  Now he had to face another enemy but his time it was not from without but from within his body.  He now was the father of two girls, Linda 10 and Jean 6.  His young wife, although small in statue and frame, took on the task of being the single parent.  He was sent for almost a year to live in the Veterans TB hospital in Louisville Ky.  The good news was now they had drugs that could kill the disease.  He received the drugs for almost 6 months then they did surgery to remove his lung.  After surviving the war he was placed on a table and cut from the middle of his belly to the middle of his back.  Two ribs were removed and the bad parts of both lungs were removed.  Recovery was long and slow.  He was once again away from this family.  But his young wife stuck by him, not like the wives of many of the other men. She visited very week bringing the two young girls, of course after they had gone to Sunday School.  They would wait for their mom in the lobby coloring or playing games for their mom to visit.  Then it was back home to face another week without their dad.  In the late Spring he came home to start over one more time. 

Over the years, through a lot of hard work and the grace of God, Kenneth Adams had become a successful farmer and later business man. He added two more children to the family, a boy Kenny Jr. and Kathy. 

Since he could not attend school when he was young, but always valued education, he made sure that each of his children received at least a bachelor’s degree.  Two went on to receive a Masters degree and even one to receive a Ph.D.  They are all successful in their careers: the oldest a school teacher, the next girl a college professor, the son an engineer and the baby girl a successful business woman. 

Ken is now retired living in Lexington Kentucky where he is still very active.  Last year with little help he replaced the side walk in front of his home.  He has a small garden on the side of his house and still does all his yard work.