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| Sgt. William Holmes served with the 28th Marine Regiment on Iwo Jima. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40968366/william-lee-holmes https://www.pinterest.com/pin/531987774730890525/ |
William Lee Holmes never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 6, 1920 in Brigham City, Utah. His parents William and Emma were also both born in Idaho and Utah, respectively. His father worked as a newspaper editor at the Box Elder Journal. William had two older sisters and on older brother. He worked for the Box Elder News Journal and also the Salt Lake Tribune where he was a linotype operator.
He enlisted in the US Marines in August 1942. After basic training he was assigned to the troop transport USS Mount Vernon for 14 months. The navy used this former luxury ship to transport troops between the American west coast and New Zealand & Australia. In January 1944 he married Frances Wright. The marriage was performed by David O. McKay, an apostle who later became president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had one son.
In October 1944 he was sent overseas for one last time. He became a sergeant in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division. The 5th Marine Division left for the Pacific in January 1945. It landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, the first day of battle. It was men from the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment who raised the famous flag on Mt. Suribachi, though they were from Company E.
The 2nd Battalion was the second unit to land on Green Beach, the far left of the assault. It hit the black beaches at 0935 on February 19, 1945. The 28th Marines faced hundreds of well positioned defensive strongpoints. Advances were measured in yards as they moved in the direction of Mouthfeels Suribachi. Sgt. Holmes was wounded in action and died on February 20, 1945. His son was born on March 9. At that point the family was not yet aware that he had died.
The 5th Marine Division was engaged in combat for 36 days. It had the highest casualty rate among the three Marine divisions that fought on Iwo Jima. Nearly 2,500 5th Marine Division leathernecks were killed and another 6,200 plus were wounded.
His grave is at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Millcreek, Utah. I don't know what happened to his widow or son.
This is one of the final 100 stories (59) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled Battle of the Atlantic fallen Kenneth Barrus, USS Frederick C. Davis. You can read about Kenneth 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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