Holmes receives the French Legion of Honour award
World War II veteran Tom Holmes of Jasper has been selected to receive the French Legion of Honour award which is France's highest combat decoration.

Holmes was notified in a letter from the Charge' d' Affaires Laurent Delahousse of the French Embassy in Washington D.C. The letter states, "This award testifies to the President of the French Republic's high esteem for your merits and accomplishments... and unforgettable gratitude and appreciation for you personal, precious contribution to the United States' decisive role in the liberation of our country during World

War II.

"The French people will never forget

your courage and

your devotion to the

great cause of freedom."

Holmes' wife, author Nida Marshall Holmes, said Tom Holmes, 88,

will probably not be

able to go to Washington to

receive the medal

but may go to the

French consulate in

Houston instead to

receive his medal.

Nida Holmes says her husband was "one of the most decorated of the B-24 (Victory Ship) bomber pilots in one of the first Air Corps groups to fly over to England to make raids with the RAF.

"He led a group of planes that made the famous Ploesti air raid at very low level over the Romanian oil fields which furnished Germany with most of its fuel.

"Having already made his required (plus) number of missions- about 35- he did not have to fly this raid but volunteered because there was an available plane without a pilot."

Holmes came back to Jasper after the war and developed the Holmwood subdivision.