A staff sergeant in Ft. Bragg’s 3rd Special Forces Group was awarded the Soldier’s Medal for saving the lives of two people, pulling them from a burning vehicle in Asheboro, NC.
Staff Sgt. Adams didn’t hesitate.
As he watched a truck veer off the road ahead of him and tumble down a steep, tree-covered embankment, the Fort Bragg soldier knew what he had to do.
When he lost his shoes running to the vehicle, he didn’t stop — even as glass became embedded in the soles of his feet.
And when he reached the truck, the billowing smoke gave him no pause.
“The only thing I could really think about was the people in the vehicle,” Adams said, two years after he leapt into action to save two people following a deadly crash on U.S. 64 near Asheboro.
Adams, a soldier with the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, repeatedly returned to the scene of the crash, carried four victims up the steep embankment and rendered emergency aid until rescue personnel arrived.
On Monday, Adams — who is not being identified by his first name because of the nature of his job as a Special Forces soldier — received the Army’s highest award for heroism outside of combat.
During a ceremony on Fort Bragg, officials praised Adams for risking his life to save others and presented him with the Soldier’s Medal.
Adams said he and his wife were returning from a weekend trip at a family lake house on Oct. 10, 2016, when they witnessed the crash.
According to the Asheboro Courier-Tribune, the single-vehicle wreck occurred about 4 p.m. The newspaper said a N.C. Highway Patrol trooper reported that Lillie Mingin, 33, of Lexington, was driving a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado when the vehicle ran off the road, went into a ditch and then down the embankment.
One passenger, 26-year-old Brittany Goodman of Salisbury, was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
A child, 12-year-old Colby Springle of Angier, was trapped in the vehicle and died shortly after being extracted.
Springle was the son of Mingin, who survived the wreck alongside another of her sons, 7-year-old Eric Mason Mingin of Fuquay-Varina.
Army officials said the pair likely would not have lived were it not for Adams, who pulled them from the vehicle before a fire could start and provided lifesaving medical care.
Adams’ family was in attendance as he was being lauded for his bravery and the 1st Special Forces Command’s deputy head, BG Richard Angle encouraged all soldiers to emulate the example put forth by Adams.
To read the entire article from the Fayetteville Observer, click here:
Photo courtesy US Army