EDGAR A. HOLLISTER, CAPT, USMC
Edgar Hollister '48
Lucky Bag
From the 1948 Lucky Bag:
Edgar Allen Hollister
Santa Barbara, California
Holly is one of the saltier members of our class. He came to Navy via the Department of the Pacific and the Naval Academy Preparatory School. Being a true Montezuma Kid, he aspires to great heights in the Marine Corps. As far as extracurricular activities are concerned, Holly is equally at home on the football field or sacked out proclaiming the merits of Southern California. His spare time is spent by swimming, wrestling, playing pushball, or with his Book of Virile Verse. Ashore or at sea, this broad-shouldered Californian will prove to be a real Marine.
Edgar was a goat keeper. He graduated with the class of 1948-A, the last of the wartime-accelerated classes, in June 1947. (The bottom half of the class by academic standing, designated 1948-B, completed an extra year and graduated in June 1948.)
Edgar Allen Hollister
Santa Barbara, California
Holly is one of the saltier members of our class. He came to Navy via the Department of the Pacific and the Naval Academy Preparatory School. Being a true Montezuma Kid, he aspires to great heights in the Marine Corps. As far as extracurricular activities are concerned, Holly is equally at home on the football field or sacked out proclaiming the merits of Southern California. His spare time is spent by swimming, wrestling, playing pushball, or with his Book of Virile Verse. Ashore or at sea, this broad-shouldered Californian will prove to be a real Marine.
Edgar was a goat keeper. He graduated with the class of 1948-A, the last of the wartime-accelerated classes, in June 1947. (The bottom half of the class by academic standing, designated 1948-B, completed an extra year and graduated in June 1948.)
Loss & Silver Star
From Hall of Valor:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Captain Edgar Allen Hollister (MCSN: 0-49340), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as pilot of a plane in Marine Attack Squadron ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE (VMA-121), in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 27 October 1952. Leading a flight of attack planes on a vitally important mission to provide close air support for friendly front-line units, Captain Hollister promptly located the well-camouflaged objective in close proximity to friendly troops and initiated a dive-bombing assault in the face of intense and accurate enemy anti-aircraft fire. Realizing he was not in position to accurately release his bombs on the target, he fearlessly maneuvered his aircraft to an extremely low level through heavy enemy fire to carry out a second attack and scored direct hits that destroyed the hostile positions and inflicted heavy enemy casualties. Although painfully wounded when his plane was damaged by hostile fire, he remained over the target area to release his remaining ordnance and skillfully piloted his crippled aircraft into friendly territory. Fully aware of the extreme danger his uncontrolled aircraft would impose on friendly troops if he parachuted from his plane, he gallantly elected to attempt a crash landing in the hazardous terrain and guided the stricken plane over a cleared area where it went out of control and crashed. His superb airmanship, outstanding courage and self-sacrificing efforts reflect the highest credit upon Captain Hollister and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Action Date: October 27, 1952
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Captain
Company: Marine Attack Squadron 121 (VMA-121)
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Edgar enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1941 and served in the Pacific during WWII. He earned his navy wings at Pensacola in December 1950, took further training at Corpus Christi, and was assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, California, before being sent overseas August 12, 1951, as a fighter pilot.
His parents were Kathryn and William, manager/secretary of a packing coop who became town supervisor. He graduated from Goleta schools and Santa Barbara High School. He was a descendent of a prominent pioneer family. On December 4, 1950, he married Mary Agnes Delaney whom he met in Tokyo.
His wife, Marie, remarried and was later in the foreign service; she was murdered in her London flat in 1989. They had no children together.
Edgar is buried in Santa Barbara, California.
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Nello Da Rodda '48 was also in 21st Company.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
