Charlie's Ashes: A greatest Generation Story - Paperback

Adams, Richard Barlow: - Richard Barlow Adams (Rich), is a man of faith, a writer/speaker, and a lover of American and world history and historical fiction, Christmas, and all things Dickens. He is the son of an Army officer, the first of three brothers to graduate from West Point, a Vietnam veteran, an Army aviator with a tour in the Middle East, a registered professional engineer, the founder of an international consulting company, and currently the Chief Strategy Officer for Ion Power Group LLC, an innovative eco-friendly renewable energy company. Adams has also served as an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University and as an associate professor at the United States Military Academy. Born in 1945, a month after V-J Day, he sees himself as part of a generation that grew up in a time of great change and hope for a brighter and more equal world, those espousing racial equality and equality of sexes being increasingly heard.A collegiate gymnast at West Point, five months after graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree and commissioning as a second lieutenant in the Army Field Artillery, Adams was one of the first in the Class of 1967 to serve in Vietnam. Prior to deployment to serve as a forward observer for D company, 1/506th Infantry Battalion ("Band of Brothers" fame), 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne/Airmobile Division, and then as the fire direction officer for A Battery, 2/319th Field Artillery, Adams shared a barracks room with an African-American lieutenant during Airborne training-Clyde Oates, he recalls. He remembers Oates responding to him as Redman does in Sông Bé when queried by Foxworth if he wanted to go into Columbus, Georgia, with the guys for a few beers and to blow off steam at the end of the first week of training ... it wasn't going to happen.Upon his return from Vietnam, and prior to taking command of a basic training company at Fort Ord, CA, Adams served as a Casualty Assistance Officer to a family suffering the loss of a husband and father, a noncommissioned officer killed in Vietnam. After making a branch transfer to the Corps of Engineers and while in fixed-wing flight school at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and Fort Rucker, Alabama, he fell in love with Deborah Jean Pierce, a 20-year-old registered nurse in Savannah. His last military duty assignment included administration of the race relations program and the unit-wide race relations seminars for the 24th Engineer Group (Construction), Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 1973-74 during a very tense time in American military race relations. Adams enjoys golf, traveling, talking about his books, life experiences, and faith, as well as hiking, biking, and skiing (five years as a Vail Resorts ski instructor). He and his wife live in Sandestin, Florida, and have two married children and five grandchildren. They are active members of the Destin Methodist Church, where he is one of the teachers for an adult Sunday School class. Most Thursday mornings, you will find him in Destin at Crackings enjoying fellowship and breakfast with a group of veterans who call themselves the Crispy Warriors and are featured in Adams' third narrative, Charlie's Ashes: A Greatest Generation Story.