Staff Sergeant Edwin G. Holt Sr., of South St. Paul, enlisted in the United States Army immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

After training in California, Holt was sent to the Pacific Theater where he saw extended action in New Guinea and participated in the invasion of the Philippines. Despite contracting malaria, Holt continued to fight in the Philippines until the war ended.

One of his greatest memories was returning from the Philippines by troop ship and passing under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Holt received the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.