George Earl Adams, Jr. was born March 23, 1923 in Kansas. Adams, Jr. was accepted for flight training with the Army Air Force in 1943, and volunteered for Photo Reconnaissance duty. During his training and throughout the war he flew in a variety of aircraft, including North American AT-6 Texans and Lockheed P-38 Lightnings.

During 1944-1945, Adams, Jr. flew 68 missions with the 30th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron. He received the Air Medal with 8 Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross. By the end of the war he had achieved the rank of 1st Lieutenant.

After being discharged from the Air Force in 1946, he attended Kansas State University and graduated with a B.S. in Agriculture. In the following decades, Adams, Jr. farmed and continued his service through work with the National Guard. He retired from the Kansas National Guard as a Major on the Brigade Staff at Forbes Field (Topeka, Kansas).

George and his first wife, Yvonne Cassidy Adams, had eleven children (three died in infancy). Yvonne passed away in February 1982. In July 1983, he married Ramona Kuhn Adams. After retiring in 1984, George and Ramona moved to Puyallup, Washington and ran a small berry farm. The couple ran the farm until they moved to Sumner, Washington in the early 1990s. George Earl Adams, Jr. died in Sumner, Washington on August 17, 1996.

The 30th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron was activated on May 1, 1943. The Squadron originally trained at Peterson Field (Colorado) but moved to Will Rogers Field (Oklahoma) on October 8, 1943. On January 1, 1944 the squadron was sent to New Jersey, where they took a boat to Europe. They arrived at Chalgrove Airfield (Oxfordshire, England) on February 1, 1944.

The squadron began operations out of Chalgrove in March. The squadron flew numerous missions over occupied Europe, mapping 6,000 square miles of the Netherlands and assessing bombing damage in Belgium, Holland, and France during April of 1944.

In May of 1944 the squadron moved to Middle Wallop (Hampshire, England), and continued to photograph occupied territory. During this period the Squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation for their work photographing Utah Beach from May 7th–20th, 1944. This mission was particularly dangerous since the Normandy beaches were heavily armed with anti-aircraft ammunition and they needed to fly at very low altitudes to capture the images needed for planning the D-Day invasion.

After the successful invasion of mainland Europe, the 30th moved to Le Molay (Basse-Normandie, France) in July 1944. Throughout 1944 and early 1945 the squadron continued to move east, providing aerial reconnaissance for the First and Third Armies. The squadron entered Germany in August 1944, and took part in the Siegfried Line offensive and the Battle of the Bulge.

After the Army's entry into Germany, the 30th photographed dams and bridges on the Rhine and Roer Rivers and aided the continued Allied assault on German forces. They ended the war in Eschwege, Germany and were sent home to the United States in early July 1945. The 30th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron was officially demobilized on November 7, 1945.

George Earl Adams was born July 19, 1899 in Kansas. He served in the 1st Field Artillery of the Kansas National Guard in World War I, and was a trench runner on the Western Front. After the war, Adams married L. V. Adams in 1923 in Kansas City, Missouri. George Earl Adams, Sr. died in April 1963 in Ohio.

Brigadier General Bruce A. Adams was one of George E. Adams Jr.'s sons. Adams attended Kansas State University, and received a commission from the Army upon his graduation in 1969. Adams was on active duty in Germany from 1971 to 1975, and then served as a reservist in the Army from 1975 to 1998.