CAPTAIN RICHARD E. HOLZ
“Captain Holz? I’m sorry sir, he just left with the band. They’re giving a half-hour concert on the steps of the Sub-Treasury building down in Wall Street. Helen Jepson of the Metropolitan Opera is going to sing with them today. You might call the Captain here in about three-quarters of an hour.” And the man at the information desk in the large lobby of the headquarters of the New York Salvation Army, smilingly turned to the next in the waiting line.
Even as the telephone conversation began the tall, young Captain had been climbing into a crowded auto that had been waiting at the curb in front of the huge Centennial Memorial Temple.
Captain Holz is indeed a busy man. As the Territorial Music Secretary, of the Eastern division of the Salvation Army, he is directly responsible for all the music activities in eleven eastern states. This means that Captain Holz supervises 266 Salvation Army bands as well as small instrumental groups and vocal choruses and glee clubs. He also directs the New York Temple chorus of more than 100 voices. In addition, the Captain is Deputy Bandmaster of the famous New York Headquarters Staff Band, conductor of its fine male chorus and also of the Brass Octette.
Captain Holz is thoroughly accustomed to the life of a soldier in this “militant religious” order. He is a fourth generation Salvationist, born in the Salvation Army, when his father Brigadier Ernest Holz was in charge of the Salvation Army Corps in Pittston, Pennsylvania.
A move to the Southwest sent Richard to high school in Oklahoma City. There, following his bent, at the age of sixteen, he was conductor of the Salvation Army band. He attended the University of Oklahoma, majoring in music education. Young Mr. Holz came to New York in 1935, worked in the Public Relations Department at the Territorial Headquarters and at the same time continued his college studies at the New York University. In 1937, he entered the Salvation Army Training College in New York, received his Commission and was appointed a Corps officer in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Captain Richard Holz and Lieutenant Ruby Walker were married at the Centennial Memorial Temple in New York on January 7, 1941. Commissioner Richard E. Holz, the grandfather of the groom performed the marriage ceremony, and the Headquarters Staff Band provided the music for the happy occasion. The young couple made their home in Elizabeth until Captain Holz was appointed in the United States First Air Force in April 1943.
Even during the War, music continued to be one of the Captain’s chief interests when his Salvation Army trumpet “Shorty” sounded church calls and accompanied the singing. At Laurinburg—Maxton Army Air Base—he received glider training with the Airborne Troops in the Troop Carrier Command. And as chaplain of the 872nd and 882nd Airborne Engineers, he served in New Guinea, Leyte and Okinawa. Captain Holz was with the first group of Americans to enter Japan when, on September 1st, 1945, he and his jeep “Sweet Chariot” were flown to Tokio.
It was upon his return from service in the United States Army that Captain Holz was appointed Territorial Music Secretary of the Eastern Section of the Salvation Army. He has written a number of musical compositions. His works, as well as that of other outstanding musicians, have noticeably improved the quality of the music of the Salvation Army.