New Albin native Clyde Cremer to speak at New Albin Public Library


New Albin native Clyde Cremer will speak at the New Albin Public Library Monday, October 17 about his book pictured above. Cremer is a 1960 graduate of New Albin High School. Submitted photo.

New Albin native and published author Clyde Cremer will be making a presentation on his book “The Life and Times of a World War I Soldier: The Julius Holthaus Story” Monday, October 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the New Albin Public Library. Cremer’s book is described as being about “a humble farm lad, Julius Holthaus, not trained in the art of war but who went to France to shore up the depleted ranks of the Allies in America’s largest battle of World War One, the Meuse-Argonne.”

Six years of research that included access to Holthaus’ diary resulted in the story Cremer tells about one soldier. The book follows Holthaus from his rural Idaho and Iowa origins through to his enlistment, training and final trauma in the forest of the Argonne. Cremer says that with so few World War I soldiers remaining, he felt it was imperative to tell the story of Holthaus and his experience as a World War I soldier.

Cremer graduated from New Albin High School in 1960. After working for two-and-a-half years at Weymiller’s DX service station, Cremer joined the Army, being trained at Ft. Knox, NY in Armor but ending up in Ft. Greely, AK as a clerk typist at the Arctic Test Center. He volunteered for Vietnam in 1964 and was sent to the 1st Armored Division at Ft. Hood, TX, where he again spent his time as a clerk typist in Division intelligence.

After the Army, Cremer completed an AA degree in Forestry at Lassen College in California, and went on to graduate with a BS degree in Forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas and then a Master’s degree from Yale University in New Haven, CT in 1973. Cremer then began a career in the log home industry, presently working as a broker for log homes in Colorado while also writing books.

Cremer and his wife, Gail, have a son and a daughter. His son, Jeff, lives in Lima, Peru and works as a marketing director for Eco-Lodge in the Amazon. His daughter, Kellie, lives in Broomfield, CO and is a social worker.