Through the kindness of a stranger, an artifact at the center of family folklore has finally found its way home after spending years tucked away in a basement.
A military footlocker that once held the belongings of former Gov. Linwood Holton Jr. while he served in the U.S. Navy more than eighty years ago was recently returned to the late governor’s family — his daughter Anne Holton and her husband, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine.
Military footlockers, traditionally kept at the foot of a military bed or bunk, were durable, lockable trunks used for storing personal belongings.
The reunion of the simple wooden box with the military family is nothing short of miraculous.
When Irma Cerda found the box in the basement of her Botetourt County home, she was quick to recognize that it had some form of historical significance.
Cerda recalled she and her ex-husband had purchased it together more than a decade ago. “I’m pretty sure it was at an antique shop in Abingdon,” she said. Her husband claimed the box for some of his belongings. Before now, the wife had never noticed its importance.
“I saw all the stamping on it, and I realized it had belonged to a serviceman,” she said.
A little detective work and a keen sense of curiosity led Cerda, a Botetourt County educator, to dig a little deeper. “I wondered if I could find the family. I like history and I’m very sentimental.”
Cerda said she has few keepsakes to remember her homeland of Cuba after she and her family migrated to the United States more than fifty years ago. “We came over with nothing but our suitcases. We don’t have much from our life in Cuba, so, I see this box as a family heirloom. I wonder what stories it could tell.”
After some research, Cerda learned that Holton was the former governor of Virginia from 1970 to 1974. A little more searching online led her to the contact information for his daughter Anne Holton. Cerda contacted the former Virginia first lady directly through email, asking if she would like to have the footlocker.
The first lady responded with certainty after which a staff member from Kaine’s Roanoke office retrieved the footlocker.
“It really warms my heart that the box went home. It’s part of their family,” said Cerda.
Family lore
The arrival of the significant artifact has helped to close the holes of history for the family.
“This is very much Holton family lore that we’ve heard about forever,” said the senator during a recent phone interview about the return of the relic.
Kaine spoke about the early military life of his father-in-law and his eagerness to serve his country.
The senator and the first lady possess a letter sent to Holton from his father written on Dec. 7, 1941, pleading with his son not to drop out of college to fight in World War II.
“Linwood, a native of Big Stone Gap, made a bargain with his father that he’d stay (in school) and then try to become a Naval officer. And, that’s what he did,” Kaine recalled.
After graduating from Washington and Lee University in Lexington in 1944, Holton entered an officer candidate program of the U.S. Navy and served in the submarine service in the final months of World War II in 1945.
“He chose submarines when he hadn’t even seen the ocean before. When asked why he chose that, he said he hated sleeping on the ground,” Kaine said.
During the final months of the war, Holton served as a captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve and participated in the post-war occupation of Japan for a number of months, according to Kaine.
Following the war, Holton was asked to pilot one of the three Japanese I-400 Class Submarines across the Pacific Ocean to Pearl Harbor.
“They were such neat designs,” said Kaine, who explained the submarines featured a large, watertight hangar that could hold three float-equipped torpedo bombers.
“The United States saw them in action during the war. They wanted to study the engineering and see how they could learn from it.”
Unleashing good memories
While the returned footlocker did not contain any memorabilia, Kaine compared opening the lid of the footlocker to the unleashing of many good memories.
The footlocker made of plain wooden boards measures approximately three and one-half feet wide, one and one-half feet deep, and one and one-half feet tall.
“It’s a really simple box with hinges and a locking mechanism. The most important thing about it is the stenciled writing on the outside that reads “Captain A.L. Holton, c/o Big Stone Gap, Va.”
It also indicates the sailor served on the 401 Submarine during World War II.
After the war, Holton returned to Washington and Lee, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in commerce.
While there, he met another sailor who also had served in the Pacific Ocean during World War II.
“It was a guy named John Warner, and they became lifelong friends,” said Kaine.
Warner and Holton ran against each other for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 1978. After his time as governor, Holton served on the board of Amtrak.
“These two Navy guys had a really amazing history,” said Kaine.
“There’s a lot of mystery where the footlocker has been all these years since 1946,” said Kaine.
“Linwood died in December 2021. I wish I could ask him. He’d probably have a million stories about it.”
The footlocker has found a new home at the residence of Anne Holton and Kaine in Richmond.
Kaine said the next big debate in the family now is who will get the footlocker one day.
“It’s a good thing for the younger generation,” he said. “I think one of the grandchildren or great-grandchildren will end up with it.”
The senator was recipient of another piece of memorabilia just last year.
During the 2024 Washington County Virginia Democratic Committee’s 4th Annual Donkey Day, Kaine was handed a framed picture from a constituent in attendance. The gift purchased at a thrift store in Bristol turned out to be a picture of the Big Stone Gap High School football team in 1938.
“I proceeded to go row by row until I saw my father-in-law on the football team. He had signed the front of the picture, but the ink was so faded you could barely read it unless you held it up to the light,” said Kaine.
“Clearly, Lin was governor about 1970 or 1971, and he was signing a copy of this picture to send to one of his old high school football classmates.”
The photograph sits in a prominent place in their home now.
“I wonder how the picture wound up in a thrift shop in Bristol. A sharp-eyed shopper spotted it,” said Kaine.
“It’s cool when people are that thoughtful.”