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(Photo: AP)
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Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, 27, of La Mesa, Calif. was killed in a collision of two British helicopters on March 22, 2003.
Adams had been assigned as an exchange officer with the Royal Navy's 849 Squadron since October. Six British troops aboard the Royal Navy helicopters also died in the crash.
Adams' parents, who were visiting a daughter in Germany, were informed of their son's death in a phone call from neighbor Dianne Micklish. It was "the worst news anybody could ever share," Micklish said.
"How do you tell somebody their only son, one they're so proud of ..." she said, her voice trailing off. "They were so proud of his accomplishments, and they were so scared when they knew he was going to go over there. How do you do that?"
Neighbor Mary Frasure remembered Adams as "an adorable boy. Just darling."
From the time he was a boy, Adams wanted to know all he could about ships and planes.
"A look in his room at the models and posters was only part of the story," said his uncle, Richard Adams. "Even when he was in elementary school, he could describe in remarkable detail the performance and history of each."
A 1997 graduate of the Naval Academy, Adams was passionate about soccer. In 2002, he volunteered to go with the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk to Japan, where he knew the World Cup finals would be played.
"He's the kind of kid that if you had a very special daughter, you would hope that she could snag him," said his aunt, Elizabeth Hansen.
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