Born on April 30, 1875, in Arkansas, Wisconsin, he was a son of Willard Francis and Mary (Ames) Holbrook. His father was born at Wrentham, Massachusetts, on April 27, 1827, and died September 17, 1886. Mary Ames, whom he married, was born November 19, 1840, at West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and died July 12, 1889.

Graduating from high school at Northfield, Minnesota, in 1892, Lucius R. Holbrook received his appointment to the United States Military academy at West Pint the same year, at the age of seventeen. He graduated with his commission as second lieutenant in 1896, and was assigned to the Fourth Cavalry, United States Army. It was while he was stationed at Boise Barracks in Idaho, that he met and married Miss Henrietta Coffin, daughter of Frank R. Coffin, Idaho pioneer, merchant and baker, whose sketch accompanies.

He first went abroad at the time of the Philippine Insurrection in 1899, and on his return, served during the first decade of the century at various frontier posts throughout the west, with the United States Cavalry. In 1910 he was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, where he organized the first training school for army bakers and cooks. While still a captain serving at Fort Riley, he wrote the army’s first cook’s manual.

In 1911 he was sent to Paris, France, to attend the French Army School of Supply, and remained there until 1913. The year following his return, he began a tour of duty in Honolulu which continued until 1916. In that year he came back to the United States, and served with General John J. Pershing’s Mexican expeditionary forces, being in charge of operating all bakeries for these troops. At that time the first field use was made of the army field oven, which he had invented, and which is till in use, in modified form, today.

In the autumn of 1916, Lucius R. Holbrook was assigned to Fort Sam Houston. There he was transferred to the Field Artillery, and assigned to command of the Seventh Field Artillery, which was a part of the First Division. When this country became involved in World War I, this was the first artillery unit to be sent to France, and it fired the first artillery shell used in launching our assault against the Germans. In the fall of 1917 he was promoted to brigadier general, and assumed command of the First Artillery Brigade, First Division. He continued to command this unit throughout the campaigns at Catigny, Soissoins, St. Mihiel, the Meuse-Argonne and the Sedan, in which it participated.

In the years following the end of World War I, General Holbrook was given command of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, our largest artillery post. From this command he became head of the artillery department of the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His next assignment was as chief of staff of the Ninth Corps. Area, with headquarters at the Presidio in San Francisco. In 1925, General Holbrook became commander of the Third Infantry Brigade at Fort Douglas, Utah. The following year he was assigned to the Philippines, where he was in command of Fort Stotsenberg until 1928. He next took command of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for a year. Then he was named commanding general of the First Division, with headquarters at Fort Hamilton, New York. He was promoted to the rank of major general in 1934, and the following year was sent to the Philippines. There he was placed in command of the Philippine Department, in January, 1936. He held this important military post until his retirement in January, 1938, at the age of sixty-three.

Among the military decorations conferred on General Holbrook was a Silver Star for gallantry in action during the Philippine Insurrection his first military engagement. During World War I he received the French Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre with two palms. Another international honor accorded him was the Award of Prince Danillo I of Montenegro, and the Montenegran War Cross for bravery.

When he returned to the United States and to the hard earned leisure of civilian life, he built a home on Payette Lake, Idaho, his wife’s native state. It was there that he found the beauty and serenity which rewarded his long years of arduous service to his country, and could enjoy to the full his favorite outdoor pastimes, hunting and fishing. During the remaining years of the General’s life, he and Mrs. Holbrook lived amid these surroundings, which came to mean much to him.

Shortly before Lucius Roy Holbrook left Boise Barracks to take his part in quelling the Philippine Insurrections, the young second lieutenant was married to Miss Henrietta Coffin, on June 7, 1899. The ceremony took place at the Presidio in San Francisco. His bride was born on January 7, 1877, second of the children of Frank R. and Charlotte Irene (Quivey) Coffin. Her father’s biographical record accompanies. General and Mrs. Holbrook became the parents of the following children: 1. Franklin Rayle Coffin, who was born on May 2, 1901. Advancing to the rank of major general in the United States Army, as his father had done, he retired in December, 1955. On May 7, 1927, he married Virginia Howell, who was born in Trenton on January 8, 1902. They are the parents of a son, Franklin Coffin Holbrook, who has also carried on in the family’s military tradition, and holds the rank of first lieutenant. He is married to Nancy Bascom Palmer. They have two children: Palmer Lee, and Franklin Rayle Coffin Holbrook, 2nd. 2. John Ames, born on October 26, 1903. He is a captain in the United States Navy, Retired. On August 8, 1952, he married, as his second wife, Barbara Barber of Berkeley, California. By a previous marriage, he is the father of a son, John Ames, Jr., born on April 1, 1936. 3. Lucius Roy, born July 30, 1906. He holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. At Shanghai, China, on July 16, 1934, he married Mary Gertrude Sutterle. They have two children: i. Lucius Roy, 3rd, born January 4, 1944. ii. Marilyn Sutterle, born September 7, 1948.

General Holbrooks’ death, on October 19, 1952, marked the close of the career of one of America’s most distinguished citizens, whose long service to his country in its defense won him honor wherever he was known.

HISTORY OF IDAHO, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., New York, Volume III, p.463.