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Colonel Lester Evan Holmes

An Army officer in dress uniform.
  • Unit: 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron, 504th Tactical Air Support Group, 7th Air Force
  • Date of Birth: July 24, 1919
  • Date of Death: May 22, 1967
  • Hometown: Plainfield, Iowa
  • Place of Death: Vĩnh Phúc, Vietnam
  • Award(s): Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Air Force Presidential Unit Citation, Vietnam Gallantry Cross
  • Cemetery: Court A, Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Greenwood Cemetery, Nashua, Iowa
Contributed by Ms. Michelle Nystel
Turkey Valley Junior/Senior High School, Jackson Junction, Iowa
2025/2026

Early Life

Lester Evan Holmes was born July 22, 1919, in rural Plainfield, Iowa. Born to parents Legrand Holmes and Chloe (Terry) Holmes, Holmes and his older sister, Anita, grew up on a farm in Jackson Township, rural Bremer County. 

As a child, Holmes attended Jackson Rural School, where he was an outstanding student, receiving recognition for his superior spelling, grades, and perfect attendance. He attended Nashua High School. Throughout high school, Holmes continued to stand out in the classroom. He played football and baseball and earned five letters. Holmes was a member of the student government and won the D.A.R. Medal in 1936 for outstanding scholarship in history. He was particularly successful as an orator. Holmes represented his school at a Declaratory Contest, during which he recited What Price of War, participated in debate, graced the stage in several productions, and recited the Gettysburg Address for local Memorial Day services.

After graduating on May 28, 1936, Holmes worked for the Fuller Brush Company. In 1942, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps as a pilot. By 1943, he had received his wings and the rank of lieutenant, then served overseas in North Africa and Italy during World War II. 

Upon his return to the United States, Holmes married a local girl, Norma Jean Otto. They began building their family while he continued his military career. Throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, the couple moved frequently due to military assignments, while welcoming three sons: Bruce, Roger, and Tommy. However, they never forgot where they came from, making regular visits to northeast Iowa. 

The local newspaper reported that Holmes won first place in the preliminary round of the speech competition. The Nashua Reporter, March 11, 1936.
Cadet Lester Holmes, c. 1942. Reprinted in the Waverly Democrat, May 20, 2004.
Lester Holmes and Norma Jean Otto were married on July 23, 1944. Iowa State Department of Health.

Homefront

Holmes grew up in rural Bremer County between the small towns of Plainfield and Nashua, Iowa. During World War II, these small towns contributed to the war effort by encouraging their citizens to participate in scrap metal drives, Red Cross initiatives, and rationing programs. The local newspaper, the Nashua Reporter and Weekly Post, even reduced the number of pages it printed to ensure there was paper for the war effort. Plainfield, the small rural town of 362 people in 1940, participated in blackout efforts. 

About 40 miles away, Waterloo, Iowa,  contributed greatly to the war effort. The John Deere company stopped producing tractors and turned its attention to tanks and planes. Rath Packing Company became the “country’s largest single-unit meatpacking facility.” Like many factories, Rath depended on women, many of whom had husbands fighting in the war, to fill its workforce needs. 

During the Vietnam War, Iowa made national headlines with the landmark 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines. The case arose in December 1965 when Mary Beth Tinker, 13, her brother John, 15, and their friend Christopher Eckhardt, 16, wore black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam. The Supreme Court ruled that teachers and students have the right to free speech at school. Although the student’s anti-war position was unpopular in 1965, opposition to the Vietnam War grew during the 1970s.

Photograph of the John Deere “Honor Roll” at the Tractor Works in Waterloo, Iowa.  The sign listed all active employees serving in the war. John Deere Archives, National Park Service.
Rath Packing Company, Waterloo, Iowa, c. 1937. National Park Service.

Military Experience

World War II

Holmes enlisted as a cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps on March 20, 1942. After training to become a pilot, Lieutenant Holmes was deployed to the Mediterranean theatre of operations, flying air transports in North Africa. During his time there, he wrote letters home to his family and fiancée about his escapades, including seeing the pyramids of Egypt. Following World War II, Holmes left the service, but he was called back after thirteen months.

Berlin Airlift

In August 1948, his wife and children returned to stay with family in Iowa while Holmes was away. Following World War II, tensions began to grow between the Soviet Union and its previous Western allies. On June 28, 1948, the Soviets began blockading all entries into the western-controlled areas of Berlin, leading to a humanitarian crisis. Holmes took part in one of the largest air lifts in history, flying food and fuel into the blockaded citizens of Berlin. From August to December 1948, he logged 440 flights. As a token of appreciation, the citizens of Berlin gifted Holmes a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta camera for his “extreme devotion to duty and tireless efforts.” When he returned in December, he was greeted by his son, Roger, who had been born two weeks earlier. 

When tensions began to rise on the Korean peninsula, Holmes was training new pilots. Throughout the 1950s, Holmes was stationed at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas; Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona; Smoky Hill Air Force Base in Salina, Kansas; and March Air Force Base in Riverside County, California. While at March Air Force Base, Holmes began to make a name for himself as an accomplished marksman. In 1962, he represented the March Pistol Team at the National Pistol Matches. 

In 1963, the Holmes family moved to Lincoln Air Force Base near Lincoln, Nebraska. He was appointed commander of a Strategic Air Command (SAC) Unit. On June 28, 1964, Holmes reached an important milestone for any pilot. He was recognized for reaching 10,000 flight hours, over a year in the air, while practicing for a flyover at a retirement celebration in Denver, Colorado. Over the course of his 22-year career, Holmes spent 417 days flying. 

Marksmanship

While in Lincoln, Holmes continued to hone his marksmanship skills. In May 1965, he helped lead his team to first place at the Second Air Force Pistol Matches, placing 2nd shooting .45 caliber and 3rd overall individually. In July of that year, he proved his prowess once again by taking 2nd in the .22 caliber slow fire match and 3rd in the .22 caliber aggregate. That same year, he represented the SAC at the 1965 National Pistol Match.

On one of his last visits home before his deployment to Vietnam, Holmes took his family to see his dream home near Plainfield, Iowa. He planned to move there in 1968 when he retired from the military. He hoped to build a landing strip nearby so he could continue doing what he loved in his retirement: flying. 

Vietnam

In October 1966, Holmes was sent to Vietnam as an Operations Staff Officer. Tensions between the communist North Vietnamese government and the democratic South Vietnamese government had led to a civil war, and the United States had stepped in to assist the South Vietnamese, as part of their communist containment strategy. It was America’s foreign policy to stop the spread of communism to protect worldwide democracy. 

On May 22, 1967, Holmes and another pilot were flying a reconnaissance mission as part of a forward air control operation in Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam. Holmes was flying as the number two pilot when they came under enemy fire. The lead pilot heard an explosion. He turned to see that Holmes’ 0-1E “Bird Dog” had been hit in the front fuselage and wing and was spiraling toward the ground. The plane crashed into a heavily forested area, but no explosion was reported. 

The other pilot searched the area for 30 minutes before he was forced to abort the operation due to continued enemy fire. Other aircraft in the area monitored the emergency radio frequency, but no locator beeper was detected. Rescue operations were hindered by the heavy enemy presence in the area and the oncoming nightfall. The Air Force listed Holmes as Missing in Action (MIA) and notified his wife, Norma, immediately. 

As the Vietnam War wound down and troops returned home, Holmes was listed as Killed in Action (KIA) on July 8, 1975. By this time, the repatriation of Prisoners of War (POWs) under a treaty signed with Vietnam had been completed. There had been no word of Colonel Holmes’ whereabouts since the day his plane had been shot down. Due to the lapse in time, it was reasonable to believe he was no longer alive and had been killed when his plane crashed on May 22, 1967.

First Lieutenant Lester Holmes flew a C-54, similar to the plane in this image, during the Berlin Airlift. Library of Congress (2006680203).
The local newspaper reported on the camera that Holmes was gifted by the people of Berlin. Bremer County Independent and Waverly Republican, October 13, 1948.
An image of Lieutenant Colonel Lester Holmes representing the Strategic Air Command pistol team in the 1965 National Pistol Matches. The Jet Scoop, July 16, 1965.

Commemoration

Following the notification of Holmes’s status as Missing in Action, Norma and their youngest son Tommy moved back to Iowa. Their oldest son, Bruce, had joined the U.S. Air Force, following in his father’s footsteps. Middle son, Roger, enlisted in the Marine Corps. According to Tommy, he never gave up hope that his father was alive, even after the letters stopped coming. Bruce, Roger, and Tommy wore MIA bracelets bearing their father’s name as a constant reminder of what was missing in their lives.

After Holmes’ status changed to Killed in Action (KIA), his wife applied for a military headstone. The family held a memorial for him in 1976 at Greenwood Cemetery in Nashua. As the years slipped by, the family held little hope that they would ever find his remains. Holmes’ mother and father passed, and then his wife in 1986, never fully finding the closure associated with finding his remains and bringing him home.

After the Vietnam War, the American and Vietnamese governments began to work together to locate and identify missing soldiers. From May to July 1998, a joint research effort was conducted in North Vietnam. During this time, a pistol, believed to be connected to Holmes, was recovered. Unfortunately, the government was unable to trace the weapon due to lost records over the years, but it was known that Holmes, a decorated marksman, carried multiple pistols matching the description of the gun.

Along with the physical search for evidence, local citizens who had claimed to have visited the site within weeks of the crash were also interviewed. Ho Van Gam claimed that when he visited the site in 1967, just a few days after the crash, he found remains and some personal effects of the pilot that he collected. The remains were located in the area where the crash was believed to have occurred. 

Those remains were repatriated on September 8, 1999, and sent to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Central Identification Laboratory. On November 25, 2003, the remains were positively identified as Holmes, and his family was immediately notified. After over 35 years, the Holmes family finally knew what had happened to their father, brother, and friend. 

The family opted to delay his return until May 22, 2004, 37 years to the date that Colonel Holmes’s aircraft was shot down in North Vietnam. His sons, Senior Master Sergeant Roger Holmes and Tommy Holmes, flew to Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, to escort their father home. 

A caisson, adorned with red, white, and blue carnations and accompanied by an honor guard from Offutt Air Force Base, carried Holmes’s flag-draped coffin to his final resting place. For those in attendance, the most moving moment was the flyover by four F-16 jets in missing-man formation. While three followed the horizon, the fourth split off to fly toward the heavens. 

Holmes is further commemorated in the Court of the Missing, Court A, at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. His name is also engraved on panel 20E of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. He was also awarded many decorations for valor, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Star, and the Bronze Star, as well as the Purple Heart, given to those wounded or killed in combat.

Colonel Lester E. Holmes, a small-town boy from northeast Iowa, touched lives beyond those of his family and his comrades. During the Vietnam War, a student-based organization called Voices in Vital America began making MIA and POW bracelets, distributing millions across the country. Holmes’ name appeared on those bracelets. His three sons, Bruce, Roger, and Tommy, wore theirs diligently, waiting for the day their father came home. On May 22, 2004, the day their father was laid to rest, they removed those bracelets and placed them with their father. 

A few days later, Bruce was contacted by Ralph Gallogly, a native of Mason City, Iowa. Gallogly had worn a POW/MIA bracelet with Holmes’ information on it since the 1970s, and as tradition dictated, he wanted to return the bracelet to the soldier’s family once their loved one had been found. Gallogly was not the only person to contact the brothers to return the bracelets for their father. 

As Holmes’ son Tommy, now deceased, said, “It’s really an honor that someone would take the time . . . follow the progress and continue the hope.”

Colonel Holmes’ sons, Roger (right) and Bruce (left), receive their father’s flag at his homecoming memorial service on May 22, 2004. Des Moines Register, May 22, 2004.
An Air Force honor guard carefully lifts the casket carrying the remains of Colonel Lester Holmes during a memorial service in Nashua, Iowa. The Courier, May 22, 2004.
Lester Evan Holmes’s name is engraved on the Honolulu Memorial, located at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, 2026. Courtesy of the American Battle Monuments Commission.
This is one of several POW/MIA bracelets distributed by Voices in Vital America meant to bring awareness to those soldiers who are waiting to come home. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
Lester Holmes’s wife, Norma, placed this memorial marker at Greenwood Cemetery in Nashua, Iowa, in honor of her husband. Find a Grave.
Lester Holmes’s sons placed this headstone at Greenwood Cemetery in Nashua, Iowa, to honor their parents. Find a Grave.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

“24 Men to Report for Physical.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], August 23, 1950. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Aviation Cadet Lester Holmes.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], July 22, 1942. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Aviator Holmes is finally laid to rest.” The Des Moines Register [Des Moines, Iowa], May 23, 2004. Newspapers.com (130711925).

“Back From Germany.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, Iowa], December 29, 1948. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Base Pistol Team Scores High at Denver NRA Championships.” The Jet Scoop [Lincoln, Nebraska], July 16, 1965. Newspapers.com (189538619).

Berlin “Airlift” of 1949 broke through Soviet blockade of the city by non-stop supply shipments to beleaguered garrisons and 2 1/4 million civilian population of West Berlin. Photograph. 1948. Library of Congress (2006680203). https://www.loc.gov/item/2006680203. 

“Changes made in Hometown Paper This week to Meet the War Time Emergency.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], November 11, 1942. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Col. Homes Leads Team to First in AF Pistol Matches.” The Nashua Report and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, Iowa], May 27, 1965. Newspapers.com (189538032).

“Col. Lester Holmes is finally ‘home’…37 years after he was killed.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, Iowa], May 26, 2004. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

Dimitrova, Anelia K. “Back Home At Last.” Waverly Democrat [Waverly, Iowa], May 20, 2004. https://waverly.advantage-preservation.com.

“The Draft board has given each one of us a number.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], October 23, 1940. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Finally, A Homecoming.” The Des Moines Register [Des Moines, Iowa] May 23, 2004. Newspapers.com (130711921).

“Gets His Wings.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], February 2, 1943. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Holmes Reports Back to Duty.” Bremer County Independent and Waverly Republican [Waverly, Iowa], September 26, 1945. https://waverly.advantage-preservation.com.

“Holmes Says Farewell.” The Team March Beacon [Riverside County, California]. January 25, 1963. Newspapers.com (1029563190).

“Husband Former Nashua Girl Receives Honor.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, Iowa], October 6, 1948. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Information on Selective Service.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], October 13,  1940. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

Iowa. Bremer County. 1920 U.S. Census. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

Iowa. Bremer County. 1930 U.S. Census. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

“Jackson School Notes.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], May 18, 1932. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Legrand Holmes Succumbs.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], January 5,  1972. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

Lester Evan Holmes. Application for Headstone or Marker. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

Lester Evan Holmes, Freedom of Information Act Record, Department of the Navy, National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Lester Evan Holmes. Iowa, U.S., Marriage Records, 1880-1949. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

Lester Evan Holmes. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

“List of Draft Registrants and Numbers.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], October 23, 1940. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Lt. Lester Holmes Given Camera for Outstanding Work.” Bremer County Independent and Waverly Republican [Waverly, IA], October 13, 1948. https://waverly.advantage-preservation.com.

“Lt. Col. Holmes Selected as Pistol Team Member.” The Jet Scoop [Lincoln, NE], July 16, 1965. Newspapers.com (865246947).

“Lt. Col. Lester Holmes Logs 10,000 Hours as Air Force Pilot.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, IA], July 9, 1964. Newspapers.com (24397507).

“Mail Call.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, IA], March 11, 1954. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“MIA.” The Courier [Waterloo, IA], May 23, 2004. Newspapers.com (358561284).

Minnesota. Fillmore County. 1940 U.S. Census. Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

“Nashua Boys in Uniform.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Reporter [Nashua, IA], July 22, 1942. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“NASHUA.” Bremer County Independent and Waverly Republican [Waverly, IA], August 30, 1944. https://waverly.advantage-preservation.com.

“Nashua Lady Gets From Her Flyer Husband.” Bremer County Independent and Waverly Republican [Waverly, IA], October 13, 1948. https://waverly.advantagepreservation.com.

“News From Surrounding Communities: Bassett.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, IA], August 11, 1948. https://chickasawcounty.advantagepreservation.com.

“News From Surrounding Communities: Bassett.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, IA], December 4, 1946. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com. 

“News From Surrounding Communities: Bassett.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, IA], February 27, 1946. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“News From Surrounding Communities: Bassett.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, IA], September 3, 1964. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Rest in peace.” The Courier [Waterloo, IA] May 23, 2004. Newspapers.com (358561244).

“This Community to Take Part in Area Blackout Dec. 14.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Reporter [Nashua], December 2, 1942.  https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“Top pistol men enter AF meet.” The Team March Beacon [Riverside County, California], June 1, 1962. Newspapers.com (1029570822).

“Transferred.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Post [Nashua, IA], June 12, 1946. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Application for Headstone or Marker (VA Form 40-1330). Digital Images. https://ancestry.com. 

“War Bond Purchases Here Over the Top.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Nashua Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], December 2, 1942. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

“With the Men in Service.” Bremer County Independent and Waverly Republican [Waverly, Iowa], March 3, 1943. https://waverly.advantage-preservation.com.

“Your Red Cross is at His Side.” The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Reporter [Nashua, Iowa], March 1, 1944. https://chickasawcounty.advantage-preservation.com.

Secondary Sources

“The Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949.” Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State. Accessed January 20, 2026. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/berlin-airlift. 

“Col. Lester Evan Holmes.” Defense Personnel POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Accessed November 8, 2025. https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000vZtmHEAS. 

“Lester Evan Holmes.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed November 8, 2025. https://weremember.abmc.gov/s?q=*&criteria=title%3DHolmes~first_name%3DLester~war%3DVietnam%20War&type=16&v=G. 

“Lester Evan Holmes.” Find a Grave. Added December 19, 2006. Accessed January 10, 2026. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17087228/lester-evan-holmes. 

“Lester Evan Holmes.” Veterans Legacy Memorial, National Cemetery Administration. Accessed March 24, 2026. https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/LesterEvanHolmes/49278. 

Nashua School Graduates (1885-2022). Oak Hill Cemetery Association. Accessed November 8, 2025. https://oakhillcemetery.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/6/8/13684757/nashua-alumni-by_name.pdf. 

Total Population for Iowa’s Incorporated Places: 1850-2000. Iowa Data Center, 2000. PDF file. https://www.iowadatacenter.org/datatables/PlacesAll/plpopulation18502000.pdf.

This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.