Between Canteens and Courage
John Gifford Adamson, pictured above while serving in World War II, Ancestry.
By Rachael Stephany
John Gifford Adamson
December 21, 1922 - November 14, 2012
On December 21, 1922, John Gifford Adamson was born in Englewood, Colorado. He was the son of Gifford Fred Adamson and Gertrude Minor.[1] He lived his early childhood in Englewood, surrounded by his younger sister and parents during the Great Depression. By the time John was finishing high school, the United States was deeply entrenched in the Second World War. In 1942, John attended Otero Junior College and had just finished his football season when he received a draft notice.[2] This notice sparked him to enlist in the Marine Corps since finals were looming around the corner.[3] On December 10, 1942, John reported for a troop train which would travel on the Santa Fe railroad departing from La Junta, Colorado, to San Diego.[4] Troop trains along the Santa Fe would pick up recruits beginning in Kansas and through other states to reach San Diego, California.[5] John recalled that when the train reached New Mexico, he and his new friends jumped off the train when it stopped, dashed across US 66 to a liquor store, and hopped back on the train, bottles in tow, before it departed for San Diego.[6] The train arrived in San Diego late at night in the gloomy rain.[7] The troops walked to the Marine Corps depot in the rain, thus beginning John’s military service in the Marine Corps.[8] John was ushered into his first day of boot camp the following day. He went through both physical and psychological evaluations to see whether he was fit to join the Corps; only one recruit was weeded out due to a criminal history.[9] He was assigned to a recruit platoon and was immediately taught how to wear his uniform.[10] Some recruits failed to tie their shoes properly, leading to a long lecture about structure and organization, and these men were assigned to latrine duty.[11] Latrine duty was a form of punishment for recruits, which required them to sanitize the bathroom. John learned the fundamentals of the Marine Corps before being deployed to the Pacific.
Breakup day, when Marines elected their assignments and were broken apart from their boot camp comrades, snuck up on John and his superiors, who convinced him to be a paratrooper.[12] John recalled that he was told he would get to jump out of a “fancy plane” and never have to walk again.[13] John found this idea appealing, not knowing the danger that awaited him. John likened jumping to a first date; you always knew something was going to happen, but you just never knew what was going to occur.[14] John was the naive kid the first time he jumped; however, the second time scared him because he had expectations. John would train in Hawaii, preparing for the mission, but rather he was on a landing craft in the third wave on the island of Iwo Jima.[15] The Battle of Iwo Jima occurred on February 19, 1945, to secure the island as a strategic air base between the Mariana Islands and Japan.[16] Following the third wave of US Marines, the Japanese began firing on troops when the fourth wave came ashore.[17] John was tasked with clearing the air strip to maintain the lifeline essential for the campaign. The command order for a proper latrine to be dug; however, it required only two men at a time to avoid enemy fire.[18] By the time the latrine was completed, the Japanese were using a search and divert tactic, bombing the area due to its appearance as a trench.[19] The men found this humorous, and thankfully, no lives were lost while using the latrine.[20] After 28 days on Iwo Jima, John was hit and felt blood running down his back. To his surprise, it was water running down his body; his canteen was hit. John did not go unscathed but was shot in the leg; he would remain out on the rocks for 2-3 hours before being rescued.[21] He would be taken to the hospital and would fight to keep his leg, arguing that he could feel his leg. [22] The doctor decided John could keep both his legs through surgeries and detailed attention.[23] John was sent to Fort Carson in Colorado to receive continued treatment and diagnosis.[24]
Following the war, John would marry Dorothy Marie Kingdon and live the rest of his life in Denver, CO.[25] John passed on November 14, 2012.
Footnotes ↓
1] Ancestry, “Maze Family Tree for John Gifford Adamson,” ancestry.com, accessed August 21, 2025, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/26532380/person/142390511556/facts?_phsrc=MJn223&_phstart=successSource.
[2] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, Veterans History Project, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, accessed August 24, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.58272/#item-service_history, 1:05.
[3] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:22.
[4] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 2:10.
[5] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 2:30.
[6] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 3:18.
[7] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 3:53.
[8] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 4:16.
[9] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 6:22.
[10] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 9:37.
[11] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 10:16.
[12] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 39:50.
[13] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 39:57.
[14] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 56:01.
[15] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:20:46.
[16] The National WWII Museum, Battle of Iwo Jima, The National WWII Museum, accessed September 8, 2025, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/battle-iwo-jima.
[17]John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:22:30.
[18] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:25:17.
[19] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:26:05.
[20] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:26:58.
[21] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:30:06.
[22] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:30:46.
[23] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:32:23.
[24] John G. Adamson, interview by Loretta J. Krook, 1:47:13.
[25] Ancestry, “Maze Family Tree for John Gifford Adamson”.
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