Salem, OR – September 06, 2026 – Author Tom Holtom has released Semper Fidelis: The Homecoming of Carlson’s Raiders. This deeply personal historical novel chronicles one of World War II’s most daring covert operations and the nearly six-decade journey to bring nineteen fallen Marines home. Tom Holtom, PNOK (Primary Next of Kin), draws on firsthand family history and decades of research to tell a story that begins in a quiet Palo Alto living room in 1942 and does not truly end until a military honor ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
On August 17, 1942, a small force of Marine Raiders stormed Makin Island in the South Pacific under the command of Colonel Evans Carlson. Among those who never returned was Captain Gerald P. Holtom, the unit’s intelligence officer and the author’s uncle. Gerald was the only officer killed in action during the raid, shot by a Japanese sniper while reading enemy documents, doing his job, until the very end. His body, along with eighteen of his comrades, was buried in a mass grave by local Gilbertese islanders and left behind when the surviving Raiders returned to their submarines.
For his family, the grief did not come with a burial. It came with a government letter, a gold star sewn onto a handmade banner, and a wound that would not close for over half a century. Tom Holtom’s grandmother, Grace Holtom, sewed that gold star herself, and the flag she made hung in the family window until the war’s end, when she took it down and hid it away, not to be rediscovered for decades, a quiet, enduring reminder of a son who had not yet come home.
The novel blends cinematic storytelling with historical fact, moving between the wartime raid and other events. This 1948 military review stamped Gerald’s case “APPROVED NON-RECOVERABLE,” and a 1999 recovery mission on Makin Island led by the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI). When a Gilbertese elder named Bureimoa Tokarei, the same teenager who had helped bury the Raiders in 1942, pointed investigators toward an overlooked stretch of beach, the excavation team uncovered nineteen sets of remains, fifty-five live hand grenades, and a set of dog tags bearing the name Holtom, Gerald P.
The ceremony that followed at Arlington National Cemetery became the second-largest in the cemetery’s history, surpassed only by the funeral of President John F. Kennedy. The eight surviving Carlson’s Raiders who attended marched behind the caissons carrying their comrades, raised a final salute, and completed a mission that had waited fifty-seven years to be finished.
Tom Holtom wrote Semper Fidelis not just to honor his uncle, but to preserve a piece of American military history that belongs to every family that has ever waited at a window. The novel shines a light on how the Marines’ code of Semper Fidelis, always faithful, is not a slogan. It is a promise kept, even when it takes fifty-seven years.
About the Author
Tom Holtom is the grandson of Dr. Daniel and Grace Holtom and the nephew of Captain Gerald P. Holtom, USMC. He served as the Primary Next of Kin in the real-life recovery of his uncle’s remains from Makin Island. He lives in Newport Beach, California.
About Premium Book Writers:
Premium Book Writers is a professional publishing and book services company dedicated to helping authors bring their stories and ideas to readers. The company provides a range of publishing solutions designed to support authors throughout the book creation and publishing process, including editorial, publishing, audiobook, and related services.
With a focus on quality and author support, Premium Book Writers works to help writers transform their manuscripts into professionally presented books and reach audiences through modern publishing and distribution channels.
Amazon
Media ContactCompany Name: Premium Book WritersContact Person: Tom Holtom P.E.Email: Send EmailCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://premiumbookwriters.com/
