Veterans Day: Seven served, seven returned
Published: November 12, 2005
In 1944, a newspaper headline called Anna Holt and her boys “Mesa’s War Effort Family.’’ Five of her sons and two sons-inlaw served in World War II.
All seven came home alive.
“Mother was real happy,’’ said 85-year-old Heber Holt, who still lives in Mesa. “Real happy.’’
Anna, a widow, kept her sons’ spirits up during the war. A photo album several inches thick is packed with letters from overseas. Her replies helped the brothers stay informed about each other.
“Everybody was writing her,’’ said Orson Holt, 90, who now lives in Blythe, Calif. “I think all of us were sending money.’’
While serving in Europe, Orson took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. An artillery shell wounded him in 1945, resulting in a Purple Heart.
He was the last Holt brother to join the war effort, the first to come home and the only one injured. Forty years later, doctors discovered two pieces of shrapnel still lodged in his chest.
Heber spent those war years in the Pacific with the Army Air Corps, and developed a reputation as a mechanic.
He never flew any combat missions, but avoided some close calls thanks to Marine protection.
World War II veterans are dying at a rate of more than 1,100 a day, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Along with Coit Holt of Hesperia, Calif., Orson and Heber are the remaining living brothers.
With so many stories to tell, the Holts convey a current of youth and history.
Orson even remarked how recalling those days rewinds his mind to his late 20s, when he prayed for strength to make it through the war.
“I kept my commitment,’’ he said, “and the Lord kept his commitment.’’ They acknowledge that their generation of veterans has become more willing to talk in the past couple of decades.
Opening up those memories has often yielded surprises. Heber, who once wouldn’t even discuss the war with his wife, learned he was stationed on an uninhabited island at the same time as two of his brothers.
“I didn’t know they were there,’’ he said, “until 20 years ago.’’
Not surprisingly, military service goes way back in the family. One of their ancestors, Adam Clark Holt, fought for the South in the Civil War while others were in the Revolutionary War and World War I.
The tradition continues today, as Heber proudly holds a photo of his 23-year-old grandson, Jeremy Holt, a Mesa resident and U.S. Marine.
“In six months, he’ll be in Iraq,’’ he said, although his tone is bittersweet. “I worry about it.’’
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