Frank Adkins was born on November 20, 1914, in Clarksville, Tennessee. He enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Corps on November 23, 1940, and was commissioned a 2d Lt in the U.S. Army Air Forces and awarded his pilot wings at Kelly Field, Texas, on July 11, 1941. His first assignment was as a P-40 Warhawk pilot with the 16th Pursuit Squadron of the 51st Pursuit Group at March Field, California, from July to December 1941, followed by deploying to Australia shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He joined the 17th Pursuit Squadron (Provisional) in Australia in January 1942, and deployed with the unit to Java in February 1942. Lt Adkins was credited with 2 enemy aircraft destroyed in aerial combat before transferring to the 35th Fighter Squadron in Australia in March 1942. He was credited with 1 enemy aircraft destroyed in aerial combat while serving with the 35th Fighter Squadron in May 1942, and he returned to the United States in October 1942. After serving on a war bond tour in the U.S. Maj Adkins was assigned to Orlando AB, Florida, in February 1943, serving as Commander of the 445th Fighter Squadron there from July to November 1943. His next assignment was as Commanding Officer of the 313th Fighter Squadron of the 50th Fighter Group at Alachua Army Air Field, Florida, and then at Orlando AB, Florida, from December 1943 until he deployed with his squadron to England in April 1944. Lt Col Adkins remained in command of the 313th Fighter Squadron in England, and was credited with the destruction of 2 more enemy aircraft in aerial combat in August 1944. He became Deputy Commander of the 50th Fighter Group in England in September 1944, and returned to the United States in October 1944. He was then appointed as Deputy Commander of the 904th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Fighter) at Kissimmee Army Air Field, Florida, from October 1944 until he was killed in a flying accident near Freeport, Texas, on February 23, 1945. Frank Adkins was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville, Tennessee.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.