Inez Elizabeth Holmes

Inez Elizabeth Holmes was born in 1915 in Norfolk, Virginia, the daughter of William, a drayman, and Pattie, who raised five children. At age fifteen, Holmes worked as a seamstress in a factory, according to the 1930 Census. After completing Booker T Washington High School, Holmes received advanced training at the Piedmont Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Burkeville, completing the program in May 1935. After receiving additional training at Philip Hospital in Richmond and New York University, Holmes worked at Seaview Hospital, Staten Island, New York, for four years. In May 1941, Holmes enlisted as an army nurse, almost six months before the United States entered the war. From 1943 to 1945, Holmes served with the 268th Station Hospital in New Guinea and the Philippines. Holmes spent twenty years in the US Army, earning promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during her period of service. After leaving the military, she worked as a nurse for the Staten Island Medical Center and the Camden Public Schools in New Jersey. Her husband, Edward Booker, a retired major in the US Army and a teacher at Philadelphia Public Schools, died in May 1995. Less than one month later, on June 22, 1995, Inez Holmes died at Chesapeake General Hospital in Virginia. Holmes was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Chesapeake, with a grave marker commemorating her record of military service: “Inez Holmes Booker, Lt. Col., US Army, World War II, 1915-1995.”