William Lee Holmes was born on July 6, 1920 in Brigham City, Utah. His parents William and Emma were born in Idaho and Utah, respectively. His father worked as a newspaper editor at the Box Elder Journal. William had two older sisters and an older brother. He worked for the Box Elder News Journal and also the Salt Lake Tribune where he was a linotype operator.

He enlisted in the US Marines in August 1942. After basic training he was assigned to the troop transport USS Mount Vernon for 14 months. The navy used this former luxury ship to transport troops between the American west coast and New Zealand & Australia. In January 1944 he married Frances Wright. The marriage was performed by David O. McKay, an apostle who later became president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had one son.

In October 1944 he was sent overseas for one last time. He became a sergeant in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division. The 5th Marine Division left for the Pacific in January 1945. It landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, the first day of battle. It was men from the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment who raised the famous flag on Mt. Suribachi, though they were from Company E.

The 2nd Battalion was the second unit to land on Green Beach, the far left of the assault. It hit the black beaches at 0935 on February 19, 1945. The 28th Marines faced hundreds of well positioned defensive strongpoints. Advances were measured in yards as they moved in the direction of Mount Suribachi. Sgt. Holmes was wounded in action and died on February 20, 1945.

The 5th Marine Division was engaged in combat for 36 days. It had the highest casualty rate among the three Marine divisions that fought on Iwo Jima. Nearly 2,500 5th Marine Division leathernecks were killed and another 6,200 plus were wounded.

His son was born on March 9. At that point the family was not yet aware that he had died.

His grave is at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Millcreek, Utah.

Thank you Sgt. Holmes for your sacrifice.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.