James L. Holloway Jr.

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Holloway was born on June 20, 1898, in Fort Smith, Arkansas to future centenarian James Lemuel Holloway and the former Mary George Leaming. In 1904, his family moved to Dallas, Texas, where he was a varsity football tackle and a member of the debate team at Oak Cliff High School, from which he graduated in 1915. Unable to secure an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, his original ambition, he instead passed the entrance examinations for the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and entered the Naval Academy as a midshipman in 1915. He graduated in June 1918 near the bottom of the accelerated class of 1919, ranked 149th out of 199, and later claimed that he had avoided flunking out of the Academy only because his class graduated early due to World War I. "I knew I would have bilged in mechanics."

Commissioned ensign on June 7, 1918, Holloway was assigned to the destroyer Monaghan, operating out of Brest, France as part of the destroyer force tasked with anti-submarine patrols against German U-boats in European waters. He made a poor impression almost immediately. "They never told me about the lack of space on destroyers. My baggage filled the whole wardroom. I was a very unpopular young officer for that." Nevertheless, he was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) in September.

In January 1919, Holloway was assigned to the battleship Florida, a tour that included duty as aide and flag lieutenant to Rear Admiral Frederick B. Bassett Jr. As the admiral's aide, Holloway visited Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay when Florida carried Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby and his party on a diplomatic cruise to South American and Caribbean ports in 1920.

In August 1921, Holloway was assigned to destroyer duty, briefly commanding the destroyer Wainwright before serving as executive officer of the destroyer McCormick until June 1922, when he was promoted to full lieutenant and assigned as executive officer of the destroyer Truxtun for two years of sea duty in the Far East with the Asiatic Fleet. Upon his return to the U.S. in July 1924, he served as an instructor at the Naval Academy in the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery from August 1924 – June 1926, under successive superintendents Henry B. Wilson and Louis M. Nulton.

In 1926, Holloway began a two-year tour aboard the battleship West Virginia, over the course of which he received several departmental commendations for "contribution to gunnery efficiency" and had under his command the highest scoring 16 in (410 mm) gun turret in the Navy, which set a record in target practice that remained unbroken for several years.

From August 1928 to June 1930, Holloway was aide and flag lieutenant on the staff of Rear Admiral Harris Laning, chief of staff of the Battle Fleet and subsequently Commander Battleship Division Two. He remained Laning's aide for the first two years of the admiral's next assignment as President of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, then had duty as assistant gunnery officer aboard the battleship Nevada from June 1932 – May 1933. In May 1933, he was again assigned as aide and flag lieutenant to now-Vice Admiral Laning, Commander Cruisers Scouting Force. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in June.

In June 1934, Holloway began a year in command of the destroyer Hopkins, flagship of Commander, Destroyer Squadron Three in the Pacific Fleet. "I made a beauty out of the Hopkins. I brought her up in appearance and gunnery. A friend of mine, the first lieutenant of the Langley, helped me. This boy gave me an extra 200 gallons of paint every month. I made her look like a yacht."

Holloway was transferred to the Navy Department in June 1935 for three years of duty with the Gunnery Section of the Fleet Training Division, then was navigator of the battleship Idaho from 1938 until July 1939, when he assumed command of the cargo ship Sirius and was promoted to the rank of full commander.

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