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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20030323-9999_1n23dead.html

Killed Navy officer described as 'bright, funny and kind'

By Susan Gembrowski
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 23, 2003

Navy Lt. Thomas M. Adams Adams, who was killed in the crash of two British helicpopters, was described by his aunt as "one of these amazingly clean-cut, all-American kids." A descendant of two presidents and a member of a prominent La Mesa family was the first Navy officer to die in the war against Iraq.

Navy Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, 27, was aboard one of two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters that collided about 4:30 a.m. yesterday (Iraq time) just after takeoff from a ship in the Persian Gulf, officials said. Six British troops, three in each helicopter, also were killed.

Adams had been an exchange officer with the Royal Navy's 849 Squadron since October 2002.

His family learned of his death early yesterday morning.

"He's one of these amazingly clean-cut, all-American kids," said his aunt, Elizabeth Hansen of La Jolla. "He's the kind of kid that if you had a very special daughter, you would hope that she could snag him. He was just amazingly bright, funny and kind."

Adams' lineage can be traced to Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, his aunt said.

Officials also identified two Camp Pendleton Marines who were killed in battle Friday as Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22, of Los Angeles; and 2nd Lt. Therrel S. Childers, 30, of Saucier, Miss. Both were with the 1st Marine Division.

News of Adams' death rocked the small La Mesa community of Mount Helix, where his family lives.

His parents, John and Marilyn Adams, were in Germany visiting Adams' younger sister, Cari, who is attending the University of Heidelberg. Neighbors Dianne and Pete Micklish called the Adamses after two Navy chaplains came to their door at 6:15 a.m. yesterday.

The Adamses "asked if we were OK," Dianne Micklish said. "We're calling them and telling them the worst news. That's the kind of people they are.

"It's not supposed to happen," she said. "You know in your heart it's possible, but you can't let that in."

Adams graduated from Grossmont High School in 1993, his aunt said. News of his death so traumatized a former chemistry teacher and the mother of a close high school friend that neither could speak about him last night.

Adams graduated from the Naval Academy and was a decorated naval flight officer who trained in Pensacola. He was commissioned in 1997 and achieved the rank of lieutenant two years ago.

Before his assignment with the Royal Navy's 849 Squadron, based in Helston, England, he served on the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron at bases in Japan and Virginia. He earned two National Defense Service Medals and three Sea Service Deployment Ribbons along with other awards and decorations.

He also was passionate about soccer. He joined a local team in England, his family said. Adams was so enamored with the sport that he volunteered to go with the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk to Japan when he knew the World Cup finals would be there.

Adams' late grandfather, Richard Croxton Adams, helped found Grossmont Bank and Heartland Savings and Loan. His grandfather, who moved to San Diego from Cleveland in 1948, helped rebuild the Old Globe Theatre and the Aerospace Museum after they were destroyed by arson.

Adams' family said he especially enjoyed his work with the Royal Navy for two reasons: Each ship had a pub on board, and he was allowed weekly 20-minute phone calls home.

"Both of their kids tried to call home once a week from anywhere they were in the world," said his uncle, Richard Adams of La Jolla.

Adams' father, an architect, was able to join his son on a Tiger cruise from Guam to Japan last year, the family said.

Both Adams' grandmothers live in La Mesa, and he also has an aunt and two cousins in Kensington. Family includes relatives in Pebble Beach and Riverside, and in Michigan, Ohio, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

"This is an extremely close family, and none of us will ever be the same," said Hansen, his aunt. "All of us just remember him as a fun-loving guy with a wry sense of humor and we can't imagine going forward without him."

The Marines, too, were mourning the loss of Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez and 2nd Lt. Therrel S. Childers.

The only information officials would release is that one was killed while leading his infantry platoon in a firefight to secure an oil pumping station in southern Iraq, the U.S. Central Command said. The other died while fighting enemy forces near the port of Umm Qasr, according to wire service reports.

Their deaths bring to six the number of Camp Pendleton-affiliated troops killed in Iraq.

"To all those who have lost someone in this conflict, our hearts are with you," Maj. Curtis Hill, a Camp Pendleton spokesman, said in a written statement. "We are very grateful for your sacrifice and the sacrifice your loved ones have made."

Childers was with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division. He graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., in June 2001 with a major in French. According to the military college's Web site, Childers was a dean's list student and active in the Marine Raiders. His parents, Joseph and Judy Childers, could not be reached for comment.

A Citadel representative told The Associated Press that Childers liked the outdoors and was an active runner. He returned to college under a program that allows active duty military to complete their education and become officers. He was known by his middle name, Shane, according to a family friend, John Van Valin. Van Valin told the AP that Childers enjoyed riding horses.

Van Valin said Childers' parents were in Texas, at Fort Hood, where their son-in-law is in the Army and preparing for war duty.

Gutierrez was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division. He was born in Guatemala and moved to the United States as a child with his parents, said Fernando Castillo, the Guatemalan consul general in Los Angeles. Castillo said he was in contact with the Marine Corps but had no further information about Gutierrez or his family. Attempts to reach them last night were unsuccessful.