Charles "Chick" Fred Holm - Great Grandpa and Hero
submitted by: Jud Whittaker
SUP CC Chapter 4th Grade Ancestor Awards |
Great Grandpa and Hero
Jud Whittaker
Enoch Elementary, 1st Place
Mrs. Kami White, 4th Grade Teacher
Lynette Whittaker, Mother
March 3, 2023
My great-grandpa, Charles Fred Holm, was born March 7, 1921, in Milford, Utah, and had five brothers. His dad was from Finland and his mom from Tennessee. When my great grandpa was five years old, his dad died. His mom raised six sons by herself. They were very poor and sometimes boiled dandelion greens for dinner. The boys gathered wooden crates to recycle to help their mom earn money.
His best friends were his brothers. They liked to play and find adventure. One time they tried to convince my very young grandpa to ride his bike off an old shed. He wouldn't do it, so the called him chicken. Then they shortened it to Chick. The nickname lasted his whole life, but he was anything but a chicken.
Grandpa Chick served the United States in World War II. He was drafted to the infantry in 1944 and belonged to the 96th Deadeye Division in the 382nd Battalion. He came to Japan in an amphibious motor-craft while under heavy fire. Of his platoon, he and his lieutenant were the only ones to survive the landing. He was instantly promoted to a sergeant.
While serving on the front lines, a captain pulled my great-grandpa aside and gave him a special assignment. The captain was allowed to choose anyone he wanted to help him with his task. My great grandpa snuck out when the sun went down with about six other men to count the Japanese soldiers and ammunition. He would sneak in their camps to count and ten sneak back across the lines to report. He had to give a password to return. If he didn't know the password, he would be shot.
One time my great grandpa was making coffee over an open flame. It was rare for a soldier to have a coffee pot. When his coffee was just about done, a Japanese sniper shot and put a hole in his coffee pot. Just a few inches higher, and he would have been killed. He didn't even think about taking cover. He was too mad that his fresh coffee and coffee pot were ruined. Everyone took cover, but my grandpa was still mad about his coffee.
My great grandpa also found three suitcases full of Japanese money. He and the other soldiers used to light their fires and as toilet paper. They made jokes that they were so rich they could burn money. They didn't know that at the end of the war, they could trade it for American dollars. My grandpa didn't think he would live to the end of the war.
He signed up for the ware along with his five brothers. Because his mom was already a widow, the United States didn't want her to lose her whole family. They all got to decide when brother got to come home from the war. They picked my grandpa's brother Andy because he was married.
The story my great grandpa was most proud of during the war was the time he found two American soldiers that had captured a Japanese soldier. They were going to kill him instead of making him a prisoner of war. My grandpa stopped them and took him back to headquarters as a prisoner of war. At the end of the war my great grandpa was on Okinawa when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
He caught malaria during his service. When he came home, he had lost 50 pounds. The United States declared him 50 percent disabled and presented him with an official letter that granted him disability pay and benefits to avoid paying county and property taxes, but my great grandpa declared himself 100 percent able. He never used the letter once and vowed to take care of himself and his family. He told my grandpa (Russell Q, Holm, Sr.) that he would serve again at any time to protect his sons from having to fight in a war.
My great grandpa came home and worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and married my great grandma. They had six kids. He rarely talked about the war. He just worked and loved his family and was a good citizen. He could fix anything, especially cars and motors. Sometimes he still had malaria attacks and once his appendix burst, and he almost died because he thought it was just another malaria attack. He was strong and quiet and never complained. My Grandpa Russel said he was the most honest person ever.
I am grateful for his example and proud to be his grandson.