Story of the Month September 2014

"This plane came over, made its dive... a perfect hit, he would have split our ship in two, he was just about ready to hit and he splashed into the ocean." - Lieutenant Thomas Bayes Hollis

“I was an independent kid and I used to go around with this lady who had a friend who was a Navy Officer. And you know that uniform affected me, I wanted to wear one. So that was my first introduction to the Navy,” Lieutenant Thomas Bayes Hollis remarked to a Navy Memorial film crew in the spring of 2014. The interview had been arranged by Hollis’s son, Tom, to archive and preserve the sea stories he had heard over the years from his father.

With the onset of World War II, Hollis learned of the draft and prepared to enlist in the Army as a private. He recalled, “A fellow by the name of Barbay said to me, ‘I was in World War I in the Navy…you’ve got a bachelor’s degree, you should not go in the Army as a buck private…go in the Navy you’ll get a rating’…I thought it was a good idea.” Hollis was given a rating as a second class Pharmacist Mate because of his experience as a registered pharmacist (Hollis had graduated from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, PA in 1937 during the Great Depression, having also worked full time during those college years to pay half his tuition). His first assignment was at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital and after a year working in the hospital he sought transfer to Officer Candidate School. Hollis desired greater responsibilities as a Navy Officer and petitioned his commanding Officer for release from his Philadelphia Naval Hospital duties to attend Midshipman School.

He entered Notre Dame Midshipman School in late 1942, graduating on January 28, 1943. Hollis remarked, “I was rather thrilled, it was a big university and I was taking on a big opportunity. It was what they call a 90 day wonder course. We were called 90 day wonders throughout the Navy because it was a tough course, only half of us graduated, the other half flunked out…It was an accomplishment. It was tough.” With less than 6 months to his 100th birthday, Lieutenant Hollis recounted vivid memories of his World War II Service. His first ship was the USS Miantonomah CM-10 and he would be sent to the Caribbean to lay mines. New orders would send Hollis to the USS Panamint AGC-13. Shortly after his departure from the Miantonomah, she struck a mine and sank with 58 officers and men. Hollis reflected on the loss by sharing, “I felt sorry for the people I knew aboard that ship, I felt lucky that I wasn’t aboard during that time, so I just took it in stride.”

Aboard the Panamint, Hollis would take part in the Commissioning and fondly remembered his proud title as a plank owner. “We didn’t see it right away; I was at Newport for about a month before the ship was delivered. During that month I helped train young seamen for duty aboard the ship,” he recalled. As part of the new commissioning crew, Hollis played many significant roles in the Navy’s newest and highly sophisticated communication flagship. He served as Officer of the Deck, handled sensitive communications, and was the rear gunnery's Officer in charge of the enlisted sailors who manned this weaponry Aboard the Panamint, Hollis would sail into harm’s way against the Empire of Japan with Admiral Reifsnider and Ernie Pyle to the island of Ie Shima near Okinawa.

Hollis recollected with vivid detail the first of many Kamikaze attacks off the islands of Ie Shima and Okinawa during that three month battle, the last great battle of WWII and the largest gathering of warships in history. “This plane came over, made its dive…a perfect hit, he would have split our ship in two, he was just about ready to hit and he splashed into the ocean.” Hollis also recounts in detail a near miss by two torpedoes as he stood watch over the rear gunnery of the Panamint, witnessing the torpedo fantails as they sped towards the Panamint from opposite sides.

As the war concluded, the Japanese Navy formally surrendered northern Japan aboard the USS Panamint in September 1945. Hollis was the Officer on Deck who helped guide the Panamint through enemy Japanese waters to anchor off their Ominato Naval Base for this historic ceremony. Lieutenant Hollis had performed so well aboard the Panamint that his Captain asked him to stay aboard as his Executive Officer after the war ended, offering Hollis a spot promotion to Lieutenant Commander. Hollis' first choice was to accept this position, but instead he returned to Philadelphia to care for his wife Eleanor and new baby daughter born in May 1945 during Okinawa. He served in the US Navy Reserves until June 1954.

Just a few days before his father's 100th birthday in September 2014, Lt. Hollis' son Tom offers the following words to the US Navy Memorial. "My father will tell you that he is just an average guy, but to me, in his own humble, quiet way, he is a true American hero and a courageous man. He probably could have stayed out of harm's way as a enlisted Pharmacist's Mate at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital for the duration of World War II, while living with his new wife in Philadelphia. Instead, my father wanted more, he wanted to be an Officer in the US Navy, and for that he put himself in grave danger. He is both the toughest man (both physically and mentally) and the kindest man I will ever know. Dad has always said “study hard”, “do your best”, “never give up “, “have faith“ and “take life as it comes”. No doubt these core beliefs helped my father thrive under battle pressure aboard the Panamint, casting aside constant fear of enemy suicide attacks, as well as help him have so much other success in his long life.

From growing up studying his books by oil lamp as a boy because his house did not yet have electricity, to walking to a nearby church on his own to join a Bible study class when he was 8 years old, to being the first on his block to own a car (bought with his own earned money when he was only 16 years old in 1930), to working his way through college during the Great Depression, to becoming a "90 Day Wonder" Officer in the US Navy, to helping protect the USS Panamint and its crew during hard battle, to creating a long successful career in the pharmaceutical industry, to a lifetime of helping others in his own quiet way (such as delivering meals-on-meals to elderly until he was in his early 90's), my father has proved over and over that he is so much more than "just an average guy". Even after recovering from major heart and pelvic surgeries in his 90's, Dad continues to thrive and is an inspiration and dear friend loved and admired by many, always ready to offer a kind word or a helping hand. The words on his US Navy memorial plaque, a self-made man of strength and courage epitomizes how he had so much success as an Officer in the US Navy and in his lo ng life as a whole.”

To hear the story of World War II Veteran, Lieutenant Thomas Bayes Hollis come alive; view his detailed experience that has been digitally archived by the Navy Memorial. Plaques for Lt. Hollis and the USS Panamint are on display at the US Navy Memorial in Washington, DC. The United States Navy Memorial honors Lieutenant Thomas Bayes Hollis, featured within this series titled, Tales from the Navy Log, Story of the Month. Each month, this series honors a Veteran’s story recorded by the Stories of Service Program at the Navy Memorial. To learn more about this story and to explore the Navy Memorial Tales from the Navy Log Archive, visit the Navy Memorial Stories of Service Site.

Interview of Thomas Hollis Part One Joining the Navy and the Philadelphia Naval Hospital