VIETNAM VET PULLS POW CAGE AS REMINDER

The plastic skeleton in the bamboo cage is just one sign Stanley "Puff" Adams hasn't forgotten about the Vietnam War.

Accompanied by a friend, he spent Saturday pulling the cage on a three-wheeled frame along the shoulder of southbound Interstate 55 in Perry County. The cage is similar to ones that held American prisoners of war in Vietnam.

An American flag and a black Prisoners-of-War-Missing-in-Action flag fluttered in the breeze as cars roared past Saturday afternoon just south of Biehle.

Adams was 18 when he marched off with the Army's Alpha Company of the 101st Airborne Division to fight in Vietnam. That was 24 years ago.

Today, he is marching to a different tune as president of the Wounded Sons, a national motorcycle group that believes American soldiers are still being held captive in Southeast Asia. The group's motto is "Bring Them Home or Send Us Back."

Adams won't say how many members the group has.

Adams and many other veterans don't want President Clinton to normalize relations with Vietnam until all the POWs and those missing in action are accounted for.

More than 2,200 U.S. servicemen still are listed as missing in Indochina.

"POWs are not abandoned military equipment," Adams said as he and a friend, Rick Drescher, rested beneath a highway overpass.

To make his point, Adams is pulling the bamboo cage from St. Louis to Columbus, Ga., a distance of 730 miles. Columbus is home to the Army's Fort Benning.

Adams, who lives at Bellflower, 70 miles west of St. Louis, began his march on July 4.

Vietnam veterans have visited him along the route, offering their encouragement.

But for others, the Vietnam War isn't even a memory. "A couple young kids thought it was a Grateful Dead promotion," Adams said.

Adams sported a scraggly mustache and beard. His long hair was pulled back in a pony tail and he wore a black, sleeveless T-shirt with a skull emblazoned across a map of Vietnam.

A dragon tattoo covers part of his upper left arm, while on his right arm is a tattoo with 34 crosses, a reminder of his fellow soldiers in Alpha Company who died when their helicopter was shot down on Nov. 28, 1971. Adams wasn't on the helicopter, having been grounded by poor health.

Adams was a cop after the war. He was a police chief for a time in Wadley, Ala.

Today, he is considered disabled, his law enforcement career shelved by flashbacks of the war. The doctors call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"I am an overweight 42-year-old, border-line diabetic that needs the exercise," he joked.

Adams began his journey down Illinois 3 and crossed back into Missouri at Perryville.

Drescher, 22, of Chester, Ill., joined the march at Perryville.

Drescher wasn't even born when Adams was in Vietnam. But Drescher thinks America's POWs and MIAs shouldn't be forgotten.

Adams and Drescher have taken turns pulling the bamboo cage. At 15 miles a day, the trip will take well over a month.

But Adams doesn't care how long it takes. "I got one thing the POWs don't have, plenty of time," he said.