Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Bennie Adkins died on Friday, April 17, 2020 after being hospitalized with coronavirus. He was a career Special Forces NCO who served in the Vietnam conflict. He was also a Medal of Honor recipient.
Adkins passed away after a weeks-long hospitalization with COVID-19. He was 86 years old at the time of his death. He died in the intensive care unit at the East Alabama Medical Center.
He had received the Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the White House in 2014. The award was for his actions in Vietnam in March 1966. His Medal of Honor citation says that he sustained 18 different wounds in the four-day battle and had killed an estimated 100 plus of the enemy.
Adkins served more than 20 years in the Army – most of that time with Special Forces. He served with the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th Special Forces Group. He served three tours in the Vietnam War.
After he retired from the Army in 1978 he attended Troy State University earning two master’s degrees in education and management. He opened his own accounting firm and taught night classes at Auburn University and Southern Union Junior College in Alabama.
In 2018 he co-authored a book about his military experiences and life after the Army. The book was titled A Tiger Among Us: A Story of Valor in Vietnam’s A Shau Valley. He also established the Bennie Adkins Foundation to provide educational scholarships for Special Forces soldiers who are returning to civilian life.
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Photo: Credit to U.S. Army.
More info: On December 14, 2020, CSM (R) Atkins was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.