Besby Holmes

Lieutenant Colonel Besby Frank Holmes (December 5, 1917 – July 23, 2006) was an American fighter pilot who in April 1943 took part in Operation Vengeance, a notable American wartime effort to kill Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who had planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. Holmes was awarded a Navy Cross for his role in the mission,

Holmes, a native of San Francisco, graduated from Balboa High School and City College of San Francisco. He enlisted in March 1941, and was present in Pearl Harbor during the attack of December 7, 1941.

Holmes died of a stroke in 2006 at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, California. He is interred at Golden Gate National Cemetery.