Rod Hollman of Martell, uncle of Kristie Hollman, art and health teacher at St e r ling Public Schools, was the guest speaker at the Veterans Day program in the Sterling High School gymnasium on Tuesday, November 11. Hollman served in the United States Marine Corps from 1967-1971.
Hollman was born and raised on a family farm in the Martell area. His family and ancestors have all lived in the area since the 1860s. His early years were spent helping on the family farm with his parents, four brothers and one sister. Rod graduated from Crete High School in 1966 and started working for Alpo Pet Foods in Crete that year. In January, he went to work for T.O. Haas Tire Co. in Lincoln due to better wages, as Alpo paid $1.85 an hour and T.O. Haas paid $2.00 an hour. Gas was 20 cents per gallon.
Hollman received his draft notice in July 1967. Hollman decided to enlist in the United States Marine Corps instead of being drafted into the Army and in December 1967 started basic training at MCRD San Diego, California. After boot camp, Hollman was assigned to the Marine Corps Support Battalion and put in a holding company awaiting security clearance. After acquiring the security clearance, he attended Infantry Training at Camp Pendleton, California and then was sent to the Naval Communications Training Center in Pensacola, Florida for training in classified military communications. He was later transferred to the Presidio of Monterey, California for training at the West Coast Branch of the Defense Language Institute for Spanish Language. While at Monterey, Rod married his wife, Linda, who was from the Martell area as well.
