During World War II, James Holloway became a U.S. Army Air Forces ACE, credited with shooting down 6 enemy aircraft in aerial combat. After completing his 50th combat mission in the Mediterranean Theater of Action, he returned home in the summer of 1944, but returned to combat in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations the following year. He was listed as missing in action after a mission over Burma on May 2, 1945.