A Special Client, 2008

Dr. Don Holton and Family

The day started at 9am on 30th May 2008 from the four star La Cheneviere hotel which is one of the very best hotels located just north of Bayeux in Normandy.

There were four people in the party, Dr. Don Holton, the 68 year old son of Capt John B. Holton 4th Infantry Division, his wife, Susie and two sons, Ben and Barry.

A special welcome had been prepared at 4pm on 30th May at the American Battle Monuments Commission Cemetery, Colleville sur Mer, located above Omaha Beach. The day’s weather started disappointingly with light rain, chill and overcast skies but improved steadily to the point of brilliant and warm sunshine that greeting our arrival at Colleville towards the end of the day.

After leaving La Cheneviere hotel at 9am, we visited the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches, the medium gun battery at Longues sur Mer, Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc and the German Military Cemetery at La Cambe before our 4pm appointment time at the ABMC offices with the senior guide, Mr Geert Van Den Bogaert. We were cordially invited into the Veteran’s room to sign the visitor book and afterwards escorted to the grave of Capt John B. Holton where a special and intimate family ceremony took place.

With Don kneeling beside the grave overseen by his two sons, Don’s wife Susie gave a moving address with prayers in commemoration of the life of Capt. Holton who was killed near the village of Emondeville, a few miles north of Ste Mere Eglise on June 9th 1944 after landing on Utah Beach on June 6th.

Capt. Holton was in charge of "A" Company which first saw action against a German conscript Georgian unit who were billeted at the Chateau de Beuzeville on June 6th. The chateau had been attacked by the paratroopers of 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions, but the impetus of the attack had slowed down owing to lack of ammunition and supplies. "A" Company were crucial in rescuing the situation and the Georgians were overcome after a bitter battle.

Later the advance of the US forces was held up by determined enemy resistance at Emondeville. There Capt John B. Holton was killed by shellfire on June 9th and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star. He was first buried in the temporary American Cemetery at Ste Mere Eglise and later moved to his final resting place at Colleville sur Mer.

64 years later his son, Don Holton, MD was able to visit the grave. Don is a radiologist and family commitments and work resulted in never having the time nor opportunity to leave the US. Until now.

Normandy is a place steeped in spirituality. Often my clients with a family history connected to the D-Day Landings receive "messages" in the form of strong coincidences whilst on tour. The Holton visit was no exception. On the Easter Sunday before this tour, Don received a telephone call from his wife’s nephew to say that an old army trunk was for sale at a local flea market close to his town. It bore the name "Captain John B. Holton" and had a service number printed on it. He wondered if it could be any relation? Sure enough, the service number matched that of Don’s father and the trunk was purchased immediately. It had been on sale in the market for three years, and no one in the family knows how it got there, nor any history of the trunk.

Most of the brave soldiers buried at Colleville were young, single men. There were few family men, and Don is probably the last son to visit his father’s grave. Later in the day, Don assisted in the cemetery flag lowering ceremony which takes place every day just before 6pm.

The following day was very special. We drove to Utah Beach to see where Capt. Holton landed and later at the Utah Beach museum Don was presented with a medal and made an honorary citizen of Ste Marie du Mont, whose commune includes Utah Beach. After tracing Capt Holton’s footsteps across the marshy hinterland behind Utah Beach from the safety of the causeway and our vehicle we reached the pretty site of the Chateau de Beuzeville which today is in private hands and bears no evidence of the fierce battle apart from the Stars and Stripes and the French flags, flying side by side. After a visit to Ste Mere Eglise and lunch we drove to Emondeville where we were met by M. and Mme. Barbier who are 87 and 89 years old. They were residents of Emondeville during the German occupation and witnessed the arrival of the American forces into the village in the early morning of June 9th. When asked to describe what they saw and heard, they became very emotional in their descriptions of the noise and fury of the battle. They saw American soldiers rushing past their house, returning German fire and counter-attacks, and death and destruction everywhere. At some point during this battle Capt. Holton received his fatal wound.

M. and Mme Barbier were particularly tearful in their description of life under foreign occupation. They were adamant that the pleasure and privilege of living in a free country only becomes valued when it is taken away. Their utter relief in days and months afterwards in not having to live under military command, keeping curfews and living by strict regulations required adjustment. It took several months to relax into not having to look over ones shoulder or think whether any rules were being broken – in other words to live life as we now enjoy it. Perhaps a lesson for us all.

This was a unique experience and undoubtedly gave a sense of what is today described as "closure" for Don Holton. The absence of a father caused by a useless death, but in the context of a noble and necessary cause, gives gravitas to the sacrifice and suffering of some people – still today.