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Pfc William P. Holmes graduated from Norwalk High School in 1942 and attended the Drexel Institute of Technology.

He joined the U.S. Army Reserve in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 16 November 1942. He participated in the invasion of France on 6 June 1944.

Pfc Holmes volunteered for a patrol deep into enemy lines near Leuth, Germany, to hide for twenty-four hours and observe enemy installations. He was to return to friendly lines the following night but failed to do so.

The initials, last name and serial number appearing in a broadcast and matched his. It was a propaganda broadcast and not accepted as official at the time of its receipt. After receiving no additional information about him following the war, it was determined that he was killed in action on the date he was reported missing in action.

He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal twice. One of the citations cited: For heroic conduct in action of 20 September 1944, in Nijmegen, Holland. Private Homes, BAR man, after his squad leader was killed by machine pistol fire, mounted the roof of a house across the street where he was exposed to direct enemy fire and fired his BAR and threw hand grenades into the window of the house, knocking it out. Later he assisted in evacuating a wounded member of his squad. While doing this, he was fired on and lightly wounded by a hand grenade thrown from the house by one of the enemy who had survived his fire. By his heroic actions, Private Holmes helped to insure the success of the attack with minimum casualties.