Star goalie was a World War II casualty

by Ryan Fay

The first causality from Union College during World War II was a prominent member of the men's hockey program.

Goaltender George Dudley Holmes joined the freshman squad in 1937 and later became captain of the varsity team for the 1940-1941 season. The team finished that year 2-5-1 under head coach Arthur C. Lawrence.

The biggest win was a 2-1 triumph on the road against Army on Feb. 1, 1941. Holmes, then a senior, made 55 saves to lift an outnumbered Union team to the victory, which one local newspaper hailed as “the most brilliant chapter of this year's Garnet sports history.”

Headline and boxscore from
Union's 2-1 win at Army (2/1/41)

At about 5-feet-10, Holmes wasn't the biggest player on the ice. But as one newspaper report noted in 1941, "he packs imaginative, aggressive leadership in every ounce of his strong body... Dud doesn't know the meaning of quit. So Army's 18 skaters found out in pounding for 60 minutes at this bundle of fight that stopped sure shots into the goal."

The West Orange, New Jersey native was described in various newspaper accounts as Union's "wonder goalie” or "ace goalie." In a 7-2 loss to Williams College in Jan. 1941, he turned aside 61 shots.

Duke Nelson, who coached Holmes during his sophomore season, said in 1939 that he was "the best player under me in seven years of coaching and one of the best in eastern intercollegiate competition at present."

Holmes, a product of the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, was so good in net that Union's varsity lacrosse team tried to make use of his talents in 1939.

“He was a candidate for third base on the Garnet varsity nine last spring until someone conceived the idea to utilize his goaltending talents to save something from the wreckage of the varsity lacrosse season,” one newspaper report read in 1940. “Holmes picked up the art of lacrosse netminding quickly but the Dutchmen had quite the start on him and went on to lose all of their 10 games.”

Holmes, who would go on to serve as co-captain of the lacrosse team in 1941, participated in many other activities at Union outside of athletics. He was treasurer of the student council, a member of the dramatics society, the Hale club, the Garnet Key society and the glee club. He was also was an officer of the Kappa Alpha society.

Holmes graduated from Union in June 1941 and enlisted in the Air Corps on August 13 of that year. He moved up the ranks and was a Second Lieutenant when tragedy struck around 10 p.m. on June 19, 1942.

While making his way back from a submarine patrol mission, Holmes was piloting a bombardier that crashed off the coast of North Carolina. He perished, but his efforts saved the lives of the other three on board.

Army Major N.D Van Sickle detailed Holmes' heroics in a 1942 letter to his mother, Gertrude:

"Caught off Cape Hatteras by darkness and low visibility in haze, he proceeded to Okracoke Inlet, and there attempted to find a way through the thunderstorms which have been moving into this region since his take-off at 5:40 in the evening. He was unable to make radio contact of any type and was unable to tune in any of the radio ranges on which he could navigate in bad weather, so he remained in the vicinity of Okraeoke waiting for a break.

"He finally ran low on fuel and was forced to decide to abandon the plane. Displaying magnificent selflessness, calmness and courage, he called his crew and told them that he would climb to four thousand feet that they might jump. He climbed to that altitude, slowed up the plane as much as possible, and aided their escape in every possible way. When they were all clear, he circled to make sure that they were safe and only then attempted his own escape. Somehow or other he was caught in the cockpit and was with the plane when it crashed.

"Courageous action in the heat of combat, in instantaneous circumstances or when backed by his comrades is easy for any man. But Dudley Holmes' display of prolonged, calm, selfless courage is beyond words of mine to praise.”

The plane was later located in 14 feet of water, according to one report published days after the crash. Holmes was only 23 years old when he died.

Memories of Holmes stayed strong years after his death. In 1950, his fraternity brothers from Kappa Alpha established a memorial book fund of $1,000. Union College trustees placed a memorial in the library in his honor.

When Achilles Rink —now Messa Rink—opened in 1975, his twin brother Lannan donated a captain's chair that was to be added to the rink's curling room. The dedication revived memories of Holmes' heroics against Army some 34 years prior.

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