JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — The Army Reserves honored one of their own Friday at Joint Base Lewis–McChord.
Sgt. James J. Holtom was memorialized at the United States Army Reserve Center. The building will be re-named in his memory.
Holtom joined the Army Reserves in 2003 and was deployed in 2006 as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he conducted patrols near Ramadi and Fallujah looking for IEDs on the roads.
Jan Silbert, who was Holtom’s platoon leader at the time, said there’s only one way to describe the soldiers who did that work.
“They were heroes, they really were,” he said. “You’re asking somebody to literally to be the first person driving down the road, most of the time, visually finding bombs.”
On February 8, 2007, an IED detonated under Holtom’s vehicle during a patrol near Karmah, killing him and two others.
He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart for his service.
Sgt. Holtom’s father, David Holtom, still remembers when he learned that his son made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
“It was painful, for my wife and I and our family, to hear that news, to see those two men come to the door and give us the news,” he recalled. “As you can imagine, it’s so difficult.”
But Holtom thanked the Army for taking the time to show that his son’s sacrifice will be remembered.
“A parent’s biggest fear is that they will be forgotten, and things like this help ease that in a big way," he said.
He said that the death of his son highlighted the impact of the sacrifice soldiers make in service of their country.
“Every one of those people who succumbed were people with names and families, and that became a reality for me on February 8, 2007,” he said. “This isn’t just an army that’s going over there, these are people, individuals. So I want to thank you individually, for your sacrifice and commitment.”