As told to Audrey Fenske ’09
When traveling home to the U.S. from Ukraine, Dr. C. James (Jim) Holliman ’75 managed to fit a few decorated eggs, called pysanky, in his single allowed carry-on bag. “The only reason I had any room was because I carried over my body armor – my Kevlar vest – and I left that there in Ukraine.” With past civilian contractor work in the Gulf War and Afghanistan, Holliman is no stranger to active war zones. When an opportunity arose for him to instruct trauma care courses in Ukraine via the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, he didn’t hesitate to answer the call. In between his course topics, ranging from CPR to mass casualty management and management of chemical weapons exposure, he marveled at the beauty of art and spirit of life in Kyiv that persisted despite the sirens periodically ringing on his phone to warn that Russian missiles had been detected in the air. “They have this whole big display of wrecked and burnt-up Russian armored vehicles that’s right next to their wonderfully beautiful monastery, and I thought it’s just an interesting kind of dichotomy there.”
