XXXX-1944
Staff Sgt Frank Holmes was killed in action on Dec. 27, 1944, near Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge after six months of combat and four years of service in “doing what he had to do.” Mobilized in 1940 with Company M, 3d Bn, 137th Infantry, as a Machine Gunner, he trained with his unit until they landed on Omaha Beach on July 5, 1944. He was wounded on July 31, 1944 near Torigni sur Vire south of St. Lo during a fierce confrontation with crack German paratroopers, but quickly recovered. He fought through the battles of Normandy and was with his unit when it crossed the Saar and Blies Rivers. He was killed by artillery shrapnel while undergoing heavy enemy fire on Dec. 27, 1944.