Walter Elmo Holbrook was known by family and friends as “Elmo”. Elmo was born on May 13, 1914 to Mr. and Mrs. Edford Holbrook of Burley, ID. Elmo attended school in Burley and graduated from Burley High School in 1933. After graduation, Elmo and a friend went into the trucking business. They transported Idaho potatoes to Arizona and California and returned with fruit grown from those states. When he was in the state, Elmo was an active member of the Burley Christian Church, the Oddfellow Lodge and the Raft River Grange. He drove truck for two years and then operated the Powers Ranch located in Sublet, Idaho. Elmo, from his early days, enjoyed being a cowboy. While growing up he had his own horses and enjoyed being a cattle herdsman. The position at Powers Ranch perfectly fit his passion.
In the fall of 1940, Elmo made the selfless decision to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps. Upon completion of boot camp, Elmo was sent to the Philippine Islands where he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps ground force. Elmo was taken as a Prisoner of War by the Japanese in the Bataan Corrigedor (Core-EG-Eh-Dor) Death March. He died in a Japanese Prison Camp, later called “Death Camp” on June 29, 1943. Private Holbrook was later buried in the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery in Louisville, KY.
The Holbrook family later received the following Citation of Honor from H.H. Arnold, U.S. Army Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Corps:
“United States Army Air Forces to Private Walter E. Holbrook who gave his life in the performance of his duty, June 29, 1943.
He lived to bear his country’s arms. He died to save its honor. He was a solider… and he knew a soldier’s duty.
His sacrifices will help to keep aglow the flaming torch that lights our lives... that millions yet unborn may know the priceless joy of liberty.
And we who pay him homage, and revere his memory, in solemn pride rededicate ourselves to complete fulfillment of the task for which he so gallantly has placed his life upon the alter of a man’s freedom.”
Elmo is the recipient of the following awards and medals:
Awards and Medals:
•Bronze Star
•Purple Heart
•World War II Victory Medal
•Prisoner of War Medal (with Walter E. Holbrook inscription)
•Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with 1 bronze star
•Presidential Unit Citation with two bronze oak leaf clusters
•American Defense Service Medal with a Foreign Service clasp
•Philippine Defense Ribbon with one bronze star
•Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
Elmo Holbrooks brother
A table full of medals for Walter "Elmo" Holbrook
