Holsey Gillis

Jun 28, 2018 | Marines

Holsey Gillis was born in Georgia and was one of six brothers and two sisters in the family. His father had a farm and Holsey learned to work at an early age. Between climbing pecan trees to knock down the nuts to milking cows, Holsey kept busy. After graduating from...

RM2 Julius Heinrich Otto “Henry” Pieper

Jun 27, 2018 | Navy

Julius (pictured left), born of German immigrant parents, worked together with his twin, Louie, for Burlington Railroad and enlisted together with him in the Navy. Both were radio operators and both were on the same unwieldy flat-bottom boat, Landing Ship Tank Number...

RM2 Ludwig Julius Wilhelm “Louie” Pieper

Jun 26, 2018 | Navy

Louie (pictured left), born of German immigrant parents, worked for Burlington Railroad with his twin brother and enlisted together with him in the Navy. Both were radio operators and both were on the same unwieldy flat-bottom boat, Landing Ship Tank Number 523...

PFC Samuel Tom Holiday

Jun 23, 2018 | Marines

Holiday, who was born to a medicine woman in Monument Valley on the Arizona-Utah border, was unsure of his exact birthday, but family members assigned him the date of June 2, 1924, based on the weather and season at the time. Holiday was 19 when he went through Marine...

CAPT Eleanor L’Ecuyer

Jun 21, 2018 | Coast Guard

Frustrated by her clerical work as a civilian in 1944, Eleanor C. L’Ecuyer volunteered to join the Coast Guard in Boston, in the midst of her workday at Boston Edison Company. “I went for a walk at the suggestion of my boss and came back a member of the Coast Guard,”...