Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

by Glenn N. Holliman

Homer Bishop Holliman, 1919

the Fifth Child of Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman

As it did for hundreds of millions who occupied the globe in the 1940s, World War II changed for ever the lives of the seven siblings of Ulyss and Pearl.  For Bishop the war meant almost four years of service in the U.S. Navy from November 1941 until September 1945.  His brothers, Melton and Ralph, sixteen years apart in age, were taken also into the service, both into the U.S. Army in 1943, both discharged in 1945.

The many letters and photographs that survive from that time tell of worry, loneliness and sacrifice on both the home front as well as the brothers who all went overseas to the European Theatre.  Walter Cornelius, the husband of Virginia Holliman whom she married in February 1942, also served in the Army.  Imagine the prayers that were lifted up from 2300 3rd Avenue by my Grandmother Holliman during those years.  Below are Pearl, age 55, and in February 1942, the only son yet in service, Bishop, during a visit to Key West, Florida, his duty station.

Bishop would become a radioman on two destroyers, the USS Barker and the USS Butler.  In July 1943, his ship participated in the Invasion of Sicily and was on the receiving end of some Luftwaffe bombs.  On D-Day 1944, he was sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar. In August 1945, he was in Norfolk, Virginia about to be assigned to the Pacific Theatre when the war with Japan ended.  A month later, he and his young bride, Geraldine Stansbery, were in Birmingham, and Bishop was finishing his last year at Birmingham-Southern College.

Bishop, as did millions of others, traveled and experienced situations that broadened his world view and challenged social conventions.  For many it had been a time of trauma and violence.  The G.I.s came home, and the country began to change rapidly.  Sadly, over 200,000 Americans and 6,000 Alabamians did not return.

Below, one of Bishop's ships in the North Atlantic on convoy duty during a war time winter.  His duty was to listen for German U-Boat signals and help triangulate their location.

The U.S.S. Barker at sea during the war.  All of 1,200 tons in size, these ships, armed with four inch guns and depth charges, escorted millions of troops and thousands of supply ships across the dangerous waters of the North Atlantic from 1941 to 1945.  Both Ralph and Melton Holliman were on these troop ships in the middle 1940s en route to and from England.  Their brother-in-law, Walter, was assigned to the Central Pacific, Saipan.

Next, the rapid Post War changes that swept over Bishop and his family....

Note: The information and opinions expressed in these family biographies are those of the writer alone. Comments, corrections and additions are most welcome. The purpose of these articles is to capture a period and family in American history and to pass this legacy along to future generations who share the common bond of family.