He was the author of Aircraft Carriers at War: A Personal Retrospective of Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet Confrontation published in 2007 by the Naval Institute Press.He graduated from Saint James School, Maryland in 1939 and was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in that year as a member of the Class of 1943.He made two carrier tours to Korea, flying Grumman F9F-2 Panther jets on combat missions against the North Korean and Chinese Communists.Holloway took command of the Seventh Fleet in 1972 during the Vietnam War, and personally led a cruiser-destroyer gunfire strike force during the Battle of Haiphong Harbor.During Operation Linebacker II, he directed the massive carrier strikes against Hanoi, which were a part of the intensive joint air effort which led to the Vietnam cease-fire in 1973.After retiring from the navy in 1978, Holloway was a consultant to Paine Webber, Inc. and served until 1988 as president of the Council of American-Flag Ship Operators, a national association of U.S. merchant marine companies.Holloway was chairman of the Academic Advisory Board of the United States Naval Academy, chairman of the Association of Naval Aviation, a director of the Olmsted Foundation, a trustee of the George C. Marshall Foundation, served on the Board of Visitors and Governors of St. John's College and served in a presidential appointment as US Representative to the South Pacific Commission.
Cmdr Holloway, commanding officer, VA-83.
Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr., (
left
) with his son, Admiral J.L. Holloway, III, CNO, in 1974.