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| Seaman 1/c Paul Holley served on the USS California with his brother Errette. This painting of the attack is by Anthony Saunders. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56111065/paul-elston-holley https://www.naval-art.com/naval_print.php?ProdID=2242 |
Paul Elston Holley never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on June 1, 1918 in Missouri. His parents John and Everine were born in Missouri and Kansas, respectively. His father worked as a Union Pacific railroad fireman and later as a railroad engineer. Paul had one younger brother.
Paul joined the Navy on June 15, 1938. He became a seaman 1st class. His brother Errette joined at the same time and they were both assigned to serve on the battleship USS California.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Paul was at his station as a gunner when California came under attack. He was assigned to pass ammunition after Japanese torpedoes knocked out the mechanical hoist. He was killed when a bomb hit the ship.
Errettee, an electrician, made it off of the ship by jumping into the oily water. He returned to help fight the fires and to find his brother, only to find out he was dead. The battleship lost 99 other seamen that day. His body could not be identified and it would be decades until modern DNA testing was able to confirm his remains, but the family so far is satisfied with his remains staying in Hawaii.
His cenotaph grave is at Ft. McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, Nebraska. Errette died in 2001.
Last year on this date I profiled Arylis Green, 101st Airborne Division. You can read about Arylis here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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