Brandon E. Adams
Sergeant, U.S. Army
Operation Iraqi Freedom

Brandon E. Adams was born on 17 December 1981 in Hollidaysburg, PA.

Adams, a 2000 high school graduate, wrestled during high school and enjoyed camping and hiking. He joined the U.S. Army after graduating from high school in Altoona, PA, and was stationed in Fort Wainwright, AK, before being assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, NY, in 2003. His unit was deployed to Iraq in October 2003.

On 16 February 2004, Sergeant Adams was wounded by a grenade while in Fallujah. Doctors in Baghdad were able to remove six pieces of shrapnel from his head, but they had to leave three pieces behind and remove parts of his skull.

Brandon spent the next several months in hospitals in Germany, at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, and in Richmond, VA, recovering from his wounds and going through therapy. He stayed in a hospital in Altoona until the week before his death, when he went back to Walter Reed for surgery to have metal plates put in his head.

"He was improving very slowly. His mind was good and all his vital signs were fine. ... A week before they took him down [to Walter Reed], he had started to say a few words," said his grandmother, Melda Bricker. When Brandon E. Adams managed to speak a few words to his family, they hoped the worst had passed.

Death and Burial

Sergeant Brandon E. Adams, age 22, died on 19 September 2004 at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington, DC. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Altoona, PA.

Adams is survived by his parents, a brother and a sister, and his grandmother, Melda Bricker.