[3] Adams joined the United States Army for World War II and served as a captain with the 3rd Armored Division during combat in the European Theater of Operations.

[3] On July 5, 1942, he married Mary Ella Tobey of Belmont, Massachusetts; they were married in Leesville, Louisiana, while Adams was stationed at Camp Beauregard prior to his unit's departure for Europe.

[3] In 1951 Adams graduated from the Boston University School of Law and became an attorney, first in Montpelier and later in Waterbury.

[3][6] In December 1961, Governor F. Ray Keyser announced that he would appoint Adams as Vermont Attorney General to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Thomas M.

[7] He did not run for a full term in 1962, and was succeeded by Charles E. Gibson Jr., who had served as his deputy.