GUARD MEMBER AWARDED; LEGION OF MERIT GIVEN BILL ADAMS

A Missouri Highway Patrol sergeant who formerly lived in Cape Girardeau County has been honored in Jefferson City for 36 years of service in the Missouri National Guard.

Command Sgt. Maj. Bill J. Adams of Poplar Bluff was awarded the Legion of Merit, the highest decoration a soldier can receive short of combat.

"He was shocked," said Adam's wife, JoAnn. "He didn't know he was to get it."

The retirement ceremony was in conjunction with a "dining out," a formal dining event attended by over 300 people, including Gen. Charles Kiefner, the head of the Missouri National Guard.

The party itself was to be a surprise, but JoAnn Adams said her husband "had an inkling it must have been the cop in him" of what was going to happen. But he had no idea about the Legion of Merit medal or that his children and several friends would attend, she said. Adams simply thought the service was something where his name would be mentioned as a retired command sergeant major.

Adams will retire in May.He enlisted on May 7, 1956, as a private with Headquarters Company of 1st Battalion, 140th Infantry of the Missouri Army National Guard.

In his more than three decades of military involvement, Adams served on active duty with the Army and rose through the ranks of non-commissioned officers with positions from scout driver to criminal investigator to deputy chief operations sergeant.

Adams also received many awards during his tenure.

In addition to his military service, Adams has served 33 years with the Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop E. He will retire from the patrol this year. Adams was an instructor at the Highway Patrol Academy in Jefferson City.

Adams was born in Bloomfield, and moved to Cape Girardeau with his family as a child. After graduating from the former College High School in 1957, he served three years with the Army in Korea and Japan. After his discharge, Adams joined the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Three years later he was appointed to the highway patrol, on Jan. 13, 1962. Adams served five years in the Kennett zone before being transferred to the Cape Girardeau zone in 1958.

In 1971, he was appointed assistant safety officer with the late Sgt. Joe Matthews. He served in that position until his appointment to the motor vehicle inspection division.

While living in Cape Girardeau, Adams was also cited for bravery by the National Peace Officers Association for his action in pulling a person from a burning plane that had crashed at the Cape Girardeau airport in 1970.

His wife is the former JoAnn Little, daughter of the late Percy Little of Cape Girardeau.

(Some information for this story was provided by Southeast Missouri News Service.)