James McAdams joined the Nations Guard in 1940 and was in combat all the way to the war's end. He was reaching the rank of sergeant in the Artillery branch. Dad fought in Patton's Army in France and Germany. His buddies told about James being trapped by German soldiers who were hunting him down but James made it successfully back to his unit. However, he had a bullet hole in his helmet. It was noted his "black hair" had turned "white". Another time while in France, James was starving and came across a lovely French lady by a cottage. She was holding in her apron many white eggs. In his best French/English voice he told her if she dropped the eggs, he'd blow her brains out. James commented that the Germans were a hell of a fighting force. James's mother gave him a religion medal in a card to keep him safe. James claimed it kept him safe as he carried the cared with him to Europe. March 18, 1942, Millie, his girl, flew to California where James was stationed at the time, and they were married. James then traveled to Pearl Harbor from California and witnessed the devastation .After the war James returned to the the Bronx and worked at NY Central Railroad. In 1955 the family moved to Buchcan, NY and in 1975 James and his wife retired to Baynton Beach, FL. James was a civilian soldier but always loved his country, served, but was not boastful. James didn't join the fraternal order but his wife fought to have the American flag cover his coffin and won. The religious card remained in James's personal effects and his son Thomas found it years later and on what would have been his 100th birthday, took the card along with flowers and performed a memorial in his honor at the Twin Towers which is across the bay from West Point.