Holmes in Uniform - Clifton Heath Holmes

Thank you to Orin Holmes for sending this story of his parents and his father's participation in WWII. Clifton Heath Holmes is the son of Charles Holstead Holmes and Elizabeth P Kimball, and the grandson of William N Holmes and Anna C Heath. He was born in Rhode Island in 1915, and died in 1981 in Taunton, Massachusetts. He had four older sisters: twins Margaret and Marjory who died in infancy, Rae Verna, and Bertha Northrup. He married Viola E Freeman, daughter of Joseph Orin Freeman and Lillian Belle Marsh. They had three children, Orin, Byron and Heather.

You can view his enlistment records at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K85P-N9J. 

Clifton Heath Holmes

The wedding picture is my dad Clifton Heath Holmes, and my mom, Viola Freeman. The were married in 1941, just after Pearl Harbor, in that my dad was already in uniform and was extended for the duration. They were already engaged, so they got married before he shipped out.

The other picture was taken at the top of a hill in a pasture. I think it was taken just before he left for England. The house in the background belonged to Viola's father, Joseph Freeman,who had a 10 cow dairy farm in Berkley, Massachusetts. Viola did war work at GE until I was born in 1942, and lived in that house during the war with  her sister Hazel and my Grandparents Joseph and Lillian Freeman. I never saw my father until 1945 when he came home after VJ day.

My dad suffered shrapnel damage during the invasion of France, and spent time convalescing in a hospital in England, When Germany surrendered, he was being shipped home to be sent to California for the final invasion of Japan. Japan surrendered during that voyage home, and he was discharged immediately. He came home with a 20% disability, a Purple Heart and a 3 year old son he had never seen.

Orin Holmes