War Profiles: James J. "Jimmy" Adamouski, Captain, U.S. Army

Army Captain James F. “Jimmy” Adamouski, who was scheduled to enter Harvard Business School (HBS) this fall, was killed in action in Iraq on April 2. He was 29.

Adamouski, the first West Point graduate to die in Iraq, was killed along with five other soldiers when the Black Hawk helicopter he was piloting crashed.

“Jimmy was really looking forward to going to Harvard. He wanted to continue to serve his country by teaching at West Point. One aspiration was to become a senator or become involved with the political life of this country,” said his wife Meighan.

Adamouski’s family said he had not been required to fly his final mission. However, according to his father, Adamouski always strived to complete any task set before him.

“In his 29 years, he probably did more than most people do in a lifetime,” retired Army Lt. Col. Frank Adamouski said in April. “There is no limit to the contributions he could have made to the future of this country.”

Frank Adamouski said his son’s success was predicated on the high standards he set for himself.

“As he touched people, people sensed that he himself had a high standard,” he said. “I was asked how the army has changed my son. Well, my son was changing the army.”

His father said he had received a stream of e-mails and phone calls following his son’s death, and that people whom James Adamouski had positively impacted contacted the family to praise him.

According to Frank Adamouski, one message read, “I served with Jimmy in Germany. He encouraged me to go back to school and now I’m getting my Bachelor’s in the spring. I owe it all to Jimmy.”

His father said that the pursuit of success is a characteristic that defined his son from a young age.

When on one occasion in seventh grade he missed the school bus, his father said, his son called a taxi rather than compromise his perfect attendance record.

However, he only had a limited amount of money, and not wanting to cheat the cab driver, carefully watched the meter as he approached the school.

Knowing that he would be unable to pay the full fare, Adamouski stopped the cab when his funds ran out, explaining that he would walk the rest of the way.

Touched by Adamouski’s honesty and determination, the cab driver drove him all the way to school.

As Adamouski grew older, his commitment to school did not wane. He played on the soccer, football and track teams in his Virginia high school, and was also the president of his senior class.

However, an injury suffered during his senior year of high school threatened his soccer career at West Point. He played JV his first year and gradually climbed his way up the ranks to earn a starting position on the varsity squad by his junior year.

He eventually made all-Patriot league, and even tried his hand as a semi-professional player in Germany.

Matt T. Wiger, an HBS student who was a classmate of Adamouski’s at West Point, described James Adamouski as a congenial and enthusiastic spirit.

“He was one of those guys. In the army it’s very hard to be liked by both your commanders and your subordinates. Jimmy was able to balance both. He was loved up and down the chain of command,” Wiger said in April.

After graduating from West Point, James Adamouski attended flight school, where he learned to fly Black Hawk helicopters.

According to his father, he was also a very committed Christian and a lay Eucharist minister in the Catholic Church.

According to a letter he sent to his family before his death, James Adamouski came to be known as “Father Jimmy” by the soldiers under his command because he conducted prayer services, scripture readings, and served communion for his fellow soldiers.

Adamouski is survived by his wife, whom he married shortly before his deployment to Iraq.

Meighan Adamouski said that Jimmy had been committed to reaching out and helping those around him.

“He always had a smile on his face,” she said. “He loved life and lived that love.”

—Staff writer Wendy D. Widman can be reached at widman@fas.harvard.edu.