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Lt Col Holmes was
the youngest of the 508th Battalion leaders.
As commander of the
2nd Battalion, Lt Col Holmes first task was to get his men
ready for the Holland Operation.
Like other units of
the Regiment, the 2nd Battalion had paid heavily for victory
and success it had achieved in Normandy.
After landing in
Holland, Lt Col Holmes and his men were to secure main highways, Bridge
number 10 over the Maas- Waal Canals, and clearing the landing zones of
enemy forces for the Gliders to land.
After moving to the
Vox Hill sector, the 2nd Battalion dug in for a defensive stand
against numerically superior German forces.
On the night of 1-2nd
October, 1944, the enemy launched an attack in strength, supported by
artillery and tanks.
Like any other
paratrooper Lt Col Holmes knows a good fight when he sees one, and what to
do about it.
Checking out of his
command post, he moved forward, and while constantly exposed to enemy
fire, he directed small units during the bitter fight and personally led
counter attacks against enemy penetrations of the 2nd
Battalions area.
For this action Lt
Col Holmes was awarded the Silver Star medal.
During the Battle
of the Bulge, he led a similar attack as in Holland.
Lt Col Holmes
Passed away sometime during the 1960,s. |
