Iams was born in
Graysville, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in
Pittsburgh on January 29, 1901. By 1906, Iams had been promoted to
corporal and was stationed in
Norfolk, Virginia. During the
United States occupation of Haiti in 1915, Sergeant Iams was assigned to the 5th Marine Company. During the
Battle of Fort Rivière on November 17, Iams was part of Major
Smedley Butler's 100-man task force charged with destroying the mountaintop stronghold of
Cacos rebels, mercenaries who had been threatening the Haitian government. Butler, Iams, and Butler's orderly, Private
Samuel Gross, located a partially sealed drain 4 feet (1.2 m) wide, 3 feet (0.91 m) tall, and 15 feet (4.6 m) deep in the fort's wall, which served as a Cacos entrance. Butler hesitated in entering the hole, knowing the Marines would be exposed to concentrated enemy fire. After a pause, Iams said, "Oh, hell, I'm going through," and was immediately followed by Gross and Butler. Crawling out the other side, the trio of Marines began firing on the surprised Cacos rebels, and were followed by the rest of Butler's company. After ten minutes of intense close quarters combat, the American force had killed the entire Cacos garrison, and later dynamited the fort, ending the
First Caco War. For his heroism in combat, Iams—along with Gross and Butler—was awarded the
Medal of Honor. Iams was stationed in France in 1918–1919 during
World War I, and also served in Mexico, China, the Philippines and Nicaragua. After several temporary appointments as a junior officer, Iams was permanently
commissioned as a captain in June 1920. He retired from the Marine Corps in November 1932, but in 1942, he briefly returned to duty as a
major during
World War II. He was buried at
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. ==Medal of Honor citation==