
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 13, 1991                   TAG: 9102130656
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PETERSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

VA. SOLDIER HONORED FOR ROLE IN SCUD KILL

A Petersburg man and other members of a Patriot missile unit have received the Army Commendation Medal for shooting down an Iraqi Scud missile Jan. 21 over the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

Mattie Gholson saw her son, Lt. Lorenzo Adams, receiving the award on television Monday.

"I am just on cloud nine," Gholson said. "We were able to see him on CNN and he looked great.

The Jan. 21 intercept marked the first time Adams' missile battery - based at Fort Bliss, Texas - had fired a Patriot in battle.

A press pool report of the shootdown stated the explosion from the Patriot colliding with the Scud was so violent it took some time before the battery knew the extent of the strike's success.

The Army Commendation Medal is awarded for outstanding military duty and accomplishments. The citation that was presented to the battery congratulated its members for preventing damage and injuries in Riyadh.

Gholson said she had been told by her daughter-in-law, Cheryl, that Adams was going to be on national television. "Believe it or not, we turned on CNN and just as he was coming on, I got a call from Lorenzo saying, `Mom, did you see me?"' she recalled.

Gholson said she and her husband, Winston, had spoken with her son several times since he has been in the gulf, but this was the first time they had actually seen him there.

"We`re just so proud of him," she said.

by CNB