Four grandsons of World War I Army medic Harold Frisz, all veterans and Legionnaires, reunite at Lafayette, Ind., Post 11.
Soon after Army medic Harold Frisz came home from the battlefields in France more than a century ago, he joined the newly formed American Legion Post 11 in Lafayette, Ind., and started a family tradition of military and Legion service that spans five generations.
That tradition continues today with Frisz’s 19-year-old great-great-grandson, and includes veterans of World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Operation Iraqi Freedom and the ongoing conflict with Iran. They’ve seen action at Normandy, Khe Sanh and Fallujah, among other places.
In early September, Frisz’s four living grandsons gathered at Post 11 to celebrate this remarkable legacy.
“Here’s history,” says Army veteran Harold Adams, the eldest of Frisz’s grandsons. “We’ve got four brothers still alive who started with the Legion at Post 11. I don’t know of another family with five continuous generations of Legion membership.”
His brother, Terry Adams, adds, “It means we care about our country. That we’re willing to go and fight for it.”
Frisz, a German-American, joined the Army in 1917 and went to France because wanted to do his part. He came home, married a German woman, and ran a grocery store in the poorer section of Lafayette. A fair and generous man, “Pop” Frisz gave many of his customers food on credit during the Depression knowing he would likely never get paid, Terry says.
Frisz also was office manager of the Lafayette Water Works and ran a numbers racket. Harold recalls his grandfather picking him up after school when he was a child and taking him on his afternoon rounds. And while he never held a Legion office, Frisz was at the post every day, often with family. “Things were more relaxed back then,” Harold says. “I probably sat at the bar before I was 2 years old.” At the same time, “he raised me to respect military and law and order.” That stuck. Harold went on to have a long career as a police officer.
Harold’s and Terry’s father, Charles B. Adams Sr., moved to Lafayette to attend Purdue University after serving in the Army in World War II. He joined Post 11, married Frisz’s daughter, Martha, and they raised their family in Lafayette. Four of the couple’s five sons served in Vietnam or during the Vietnam era – Harold in the Army and Terry, Charles Jr. and Gary in the Marines. Brother Vince served in the Marines from 1974 to 1994."All of them joined Legion Post 11 at the urging of their grandfather and father. Daughter Ursula married an Air Force veteran and is a member of the American Legion Auxiliary.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
The family of Harold Adams has the rare distinction of five generations of Legion membership, most at American Legion Post 11 in Lafayette, Ind. The post recently honored the family with a special dinner. Photos by Cara Penquite
PHOTO 1: Harold Adams greets family arriving at American Legion Post 11. PHOTO 2: Photos of Harold Adams, right, and his father Charles Adams Sr. are on display at The American Legion Post 11. PHOTO 3: Vincent Adams looks at a photo display honoring his family’s legacy at American Legion Post 11. PHOTO 4: A photo of Charles Adams Sr., far left. PHOTO 5: Terry Adams, right, and his wife Mary Adams. PHOTO 6: A photo of Vincent Adams, far left. PHOTO 7: Gary Adams PHOTO 8: Gary Adams shows a lighter he received while at boot camp in 1970. PHOTO 9: From left, Gary Adams, Terry Adams, Vincent Adams and Beverly Adams gather to honor their family legacy. PHOTO 10: Gary Adams shares old items from his time in service. PHOTO 11: A space is reserved in memory of Charles Adams Jr. between Gary Adams, left, and Rick Straber.
Becoming part of The American Legion gave Terry – who calls himself as the black sheep of the family – a new appreciation for his father. Terry lived out of the back of his car in the early 1980s after his first marriage failed. He then met his wife, Mary, who helped him get back on track. A year after they married, he contacted his father, who persuaded him to join the Legion. His father’s pitch? “You earned it,” Terry says. “It made me proud to be his son. I don’t think I respected him like I should have. That turned it around.”
Charles Adams Sr., served as Post 11 commander. His son, Harold, has held almost every office at Post 11, although he didn’t agree to become commander until after he retired from police work in 2017. Today Harold is second vice commander and has a full-time volunteer job running Post 11’s gaming operation.
Terry, who ultimately landed in Tennessee, helped revive American Legion Post 1 in Memphis, served as post commander, district commander and division commander, and is now second vice commander. He started what’s now known as the MidSouth Honor Guard almost a dozen years ago. Today it includes members of American Legion Post 2022 in Olive Branch, Miss., and provides burial honors in west Tennessee, northern Mississippi and eastern Arkansas.
Terry has recruited so many new Legionnaires over the past 41 years that he was once summoned to American Legion National Headquarters in Indianapolis to explain the secret to his success. “I just ask people a question,” Terry says. “’Are you a member of the Legion?’”
Terry’s son, Sean Adams, and stepson, David Lyons, served in the Air Force and Army, respectively, and joined the Legion through Post 1 in Memphis. So did his nephews – one in the Army veteran, the other in the Marines. Terry’s grandson, the family’s fifth-generation Legionnaire, also joined Post 1. David Lyons is an aviation mechanic serving in the Navy.
Despite these connections, the Adams brothers haven’t been close and, for decades, saw each other only at family funerals. But last summer, they decided to reunite at the place where their Legion legacy began.
They gathered for dinner at Legion Post 11 on Sept. 4 with their spouses, two cousins and a place setting for their late brother, Charles Jr., who died in 1992. His widow attended the gathering as well. The next day, the family returned to the Lafayette Legion post to comb through decades of family photos their sister Ursula had compiled. Then went to toast Charles Sr. and Charles Jr., who are buried side by side in the veterans section of Tippecanoe Memory Gardens.
The weekend reunion was a rousing success. “The camaraderie was amazing,” Terry says. “It was pretty much a couple of days of euphoria.”
“We did this in memory of our grandfather, Harold J. Frisz, our dad, Charles B Adams Sr. and our brother Charles B. Adams Jr.” adds Harold, who put together the event at Post 11 and was master of ceremonies. “Rest in peace all.”
Before the Adams clan parted, they made plans to come back next Memorial Day for another celebration.
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