Date of birth:

June 25th, 1919 (Berwick/Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States)

Date of death:

September 20th, 1944 (near Nijmegen, the Netherlands)

Service number:

33081142

Nationality:

American

Dale Frederick Adams was born on June 25, 1919, in Berwick, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, the United States of America. He was a son of Elmer and Blanche Adams and had three brothers and one sister. After four years of high school, Dale started to work as a punch press helper in the RR Car Factory, where his father was also working. On June 5, 1941, Dale enlisted in the US Army. It’s unclear when he volunteered for the paratroopers, however, it is certain that he was assigned to the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division ‘All American’ in April 1943. In that month he shipped with that regiment to North Africa. He was probably already at that time placed in the Headquarters Company of the 3rd Battalion, 504.

In early July, 1943, he jumped above Sicily, during operation Husky. During a confrontation with a German patrol he got wounded, when a bullet went through his helmet. Miraculously the bullet only grazed the skin on his head and neck, which, although it caused a massive bleeding, only wounded him lightly. In September 1943, he would participate in the operation Avalanche (the landing at Salerno) and in January 1944, he fought during operation Shingle (the landing at Anzio). The regiment suffered such severe personnel losses that it couldn’t recover enough to participate in operation Overlord, the D-Day landings. Dale would, however, start preparations with his regiment for its next major operation in the Netherlands, operation Market Garden.

On September 17, 1944, Corporal Dale Frederick Adams jumped with 3rd Battalion 504th Parachute Regiment 82nd Airborne Division near Overasselt during the operation Market Garden. His regiment (504 PIR) subsequently seized the bridges over the river Maas and the Maas-Waal canal. In the afternoon of September 19 the 3rd Battalion, with our hero, had become divisional reserve of the 82nd Airborne Division. This meant that the unit was at full disposal of the Division Commander (General James Gavin) and that he could decide where and in what capacity it was to be deployed. Dale moved, with his battalion, via bridge number 7 (near Heumen) to the southern suburbs of Nijmegen. In the evening his battalion made camp in the Jonkerbosch. That night his battalion commander, Major Julian Aaron Cook, received the order from General Gavin, to cross the river Waal with boats the next day. His battalion was to launch an assault across the river Waal to seize the northern ramps of the two bridges near Nijmegen. On the morning of September 20, Dale with his fellow troopers, moved to the southern bank of the river Waal, near the Nijmegen energy plant on the NYMA terrain. They had to wait long hours for the arrival of the canvas boats which were to be transported to Nijmegen from depots in Belgium.

At 15.15 hours, after 15 minutes of artillery and tank fire by the Allies, the famous river crossing, led by Major Julian Cook, was launched. With 26 flimsy boats, under murderous enemy fire, Cook, with his battalion headquarters, including Dale, and companies H and I, crossed the river Waal in the first wave. Dale was killed during the river crossing in the assault on the German positions on the northern bank of the Waal.
Corporal Dale Frederick Adams was 25 years old. He was initially buried at Molenhoek Cemetery near Nijmegen. After the WW2, in late 1947, he was reburied at the Roselawm Cemetery, Berwick, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, the US.

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• Photo 1: Joel Frampton Gilfert/Find a Grave
• Photo 2: Findagrave.com by Steven Slusser
• Photo: Joel Frampton Gilfert/Find a Grave
  
• - LUNTEREN, F. VAN, The Battle of the Bridges, Casemate, 2017.
  - STEENBERGER, D. e.a., De Oversteek, De Gelderlander, Nijmegen, 2013.
  - De Gelderlander
  - Special Forces - Roll of Honor
  - Find a Grave
  

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