"John W. Holcomb was born in 1923 in Denver, Colorado, and
on December 7, 1941, while visiting his girlfriend at his future
in-laws’, heard over the radio about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
And like almost everyone of that generation, he volunteered
to join the armed forces. He joined the United States Navy.
After boot camp, he married his sweetheart, Eunice E. “Diddy”
Greenwald. After which he sailed out on the USS Altamaha
to Guadalcanal as a member of a TBF torpedo squadron. After which he became
a member of squadron VB-144 of Vega Ventura medium bombers and went to
Midway Island and Tarawa Island and participated in the island-hopping campaign
across the Pacifi c, bombing such places as Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Roi-Namur, and
many other islands forgotten except by those brave young warriors who were there.
This book is dedicated to all of them. Let us never forget. After the war, John settled
down to the business of raising a family with his sweetheart. They had fi ve children.
His oldest son, Larry N. Holcomb, later volunteered to join the marine corps and
served in Vietnam as a recon member and suffered severe injuries in that confl ict.
We will always remember and honor both of them.
Stephen P. Holcomb"
on December 7, 1941, while visiting his girlfriend at his future
in-laws’, heard over the radio about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
And like almost everyone of that generation, he volunteered
to join the armed forces. He joined the United States Navy.
After boot camp, he married his sweetheart, Eunice E. “Diddy”
Greenwald. After which he sailed out on the USS Altamaha
to Guadalcanal as a member of a TBF torpedo squadron. After which he became
a member of squadron VB-144 of Vega Ventura medium bombers and went to
Midway Island and Tarawa Island and participated in the island-hopping campaign
across the Pacifi c, bombing such places as Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Roi-Namur, and
many other islands forgotten except by those brave young warriors who were there.
This book is dedicated to all of them. Let us never forget. After the war, John settled
down to the business of raising a family with his sweetheart. They had fi ve children.
His oldest son, Larry N. Holcomb, later volunteered to join the marine corps and
served in Vietnam as a recon member and suffered severe injuries in that confl ict.
We will always remember and honor both of them.
Stephen P. Holcomb"
