Corporal Albert J Holtom

Albert Joseph Holtom was born in Birmingham on 16 July 1915, the second son of Harry and Edith Holtom, and younger brother to John “Jack” Holtom.  At the onset of the Second World War, Albert was working as a ‘Bakery Manager’ at the Holtom family bakery, along with Harry and Jack.

Albert married his long-term partner, Marjorie, in January 1940, and they had a short honeymoon in Hope Cove, on the South Devon coast.  With the threat of air raids looming, Albert volunteered for the City of Birmingham fire service in March of that year.  Birmingham was subjected to particularly heavy bombing on the night that Marjorie and Albert’s son, Richard, was born that October.  Marjorie went into labour while she and the family was sitting out an air raid in the cellar of her parents’ house, as the house next door, and one across the street, received direct hits.  Albert and Marjorie’s own house, nearby, was hit by an incendiary bomb, which bounced off the roof without causing any damage.  Albert had to drive through the raid to collect the midwife, hiding under his car, at times, to avoid the worst of the bombing.

Now with a young family to protect, Albert was frustrated that his reserved profession meant he was unable to help create a better World for them live in.  His records show that he enlisted to the Army Catering Corps in Preston on 5 June 1941 and was attached as a Private to the Infantry Training Centre of the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire).  He then attended Aldershot School of Cookery, where he qualified as a Class I Non-Tradesman Cook.  He volunteered for airborne forces and was permanently attached to the 2nd Parachute Battalion upon its formation at Hardwick Camp in September 1941.

By Christmas of that year, Albert had been promoted to Acting Corporal, a position which became permanent, for the duration of the War, in March 1942.  After a period of training in the UK, and a move to Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain, Albert is recorded as having successfully completed Parachuting Course No. 15 at RAF Ringway, which ran from 8-16 June 1942.  At the end of October, Albert sailed for North Africa with the rest of the Battalion, as part of ‘HQ’ Company.  Having enjoyed the good food, cheap cigarettes, and physicality of the boxing tournaments onboard, Albert disembarked in Algiers on 13 November 1942.

Albert then saw service with the Battalion throughout Tunisia, earning the Africa Star with 1st Army Clasp.  During this time, Albert received a letter from Marjorie to say that a ‘parcel had arrived, without tassels.’  She had given birth to a daughter.  Albert wanted her to be called Tamara, having recently witnessed the beauty of the Tamera Valley, but his letter home didn’t arrive, and so she was called Anne – Marjorie’s middle name.  It is likely that Albert dropped into Sicily with ‘A’ Company, in a section of Lt. Roberts’ No. 2 Platoon.  Albert was certainly in ‘A’ Company prior to, and during, the Italy invasion, where his actions earned him the Italy Star.

Upon the Battalion’s return to the UK, Albert remained within ‘A’ Company, and was stationed at Easton Hall in Lincolnshire.  Sometime in 1944, Albert received a severe injury to his knee, which required a lengthy stay in hospital, and caused him to live out the rest of his life with only one kneecap.  

By late 1944, Albert was in ‘B’ Company and most likely based at Stoke Rochford Hall, from where he transferred out of the 2nd Parachute Battalion in January 1945, after spending two days upgrading his Cooking Qualifications at the Emergency Cookery Training Centre in Colchester.  He spent time in No. 2 Marshalling and Transit Camp in Grays, Essex, before receiving a Class ‘B’ release, to work back at the family bakery, in October 1945.

After the Second World War, Marjorie and Albert had a second daughter, Mary, and in 1950 the Holtom family sold their bakery business in Birmingham and took up farming on the South Devon coast.  Over time, Albert assumed the sole responsibility of running the farm, where he continued working until his retirement in 1984.  He and Marjorie then moved to Cornwall where they lived a happy, healthy rural lifestyle, and Albert could walk every day to maintain the strength in the muscles around his injured knee.  After a short illness, Marjorie passed away early in 1994.  Albert was with her to the last.

Although Albert received the ribbons for all of his campaigns upon their award, he chose not to collect the stars, or medals, during his lifetime.  He passed away peacefully at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth on 29 January 2003, with his three children at his bedside.