Hundreds of people attended last week’s service for the 35-year-old Enz, a 2003 Monroe graduate who died following a two-vehicle accident on Oct. 1 in Wayne Twp. Kim said countless people told her that her son was their best friend.
“Adam was the type of person that you could call anytime and he would rush to you and give you the shirt off his back," she said. "He wouldn’t wait until it was convenient for him. He would come immediately.”
From giving money to the homeless he encountered on the street to his support the Semper Fi Fund — an organization that provides assistance to combat wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured service members — Enz had a big heart, she said.
“He just had so many facets to his life, between his military and his family," Kim said. "He was just an all-around very loved person, very helpful to people.”
Enz, of Fairfield Twp., served in the United States Marine Corps Second Battalion Seventh Marines from July 2003 through July 2007 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served three tours in Iraq and earned several medals, including the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal and Combat Action Ribbon.
In a 2008 interview with the Middletown Journal, Enz recounted the first time he was in combat. April 7, 2004, was a day he never forgot.
Enz’ platoon rolled into Hit, Iraq.
“It was rush hour and we’re riding down into the main part of the city and nobody’s out,” he told the Middletown Journal reporter. "They actually shot (rocket-propelled grenades) right over our truck and missed, thank God. I felt the heat from the booster rocket on it.”
Enz joined the Marines, he told the newspaper, out of a sense of duty to his country. That service was a part of him from an early age, his mother said.
“He thought it was the right thing to do,” said Kim Enz. When her son was in elementary school, his dream was to be a police officer. But that evolved to being a Marine.
Jenny Walker, Enz’s aunt and Kim’s sister, said he "was just always proud of the Marines and it just seemed like he always knew that’s what he wanted.”
Enz left the Marines after three tours of duty, but at one point he considered re-enlisting. His family convinced him otherwise, Kim said.
After his Marine service, Enz studied aviation maintenance at Cincinnati State Technical & Community College and at the school’s West Campus in Harrison. But he took a job transporting stage equipment, said his brother, Jesse Enz. That job allowed him to do what he loved: travel the world.
“He just really like the traveling aspect of it," said Jesse. "It really wasn’t necessarily the job, but he was in a different city every two weeks.”
Over the past few years, he traveled to several countries.
“He was just a free spirit that way," Kim said, adding he had been idle for the past several months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. He hoped to resume the travel at the start of 2021, she said.
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