Emil Lewis Holmdahl

Emil Ludwig "Lewis" Holmdahl (August 26, 1883– April 8, 1963) was an American soldier of fortune, infantryman, machine gunner, spy, gun runner, and treasure hunter who fought under Frederick Funston and John J. Pershing in the Spanish–American War and subsequent Philippine–American War (Philippine Insurrection), under Lee Christmas in Central America, under Francisco Madero, Pancho Villa, and Venustiano Carranza in the Mexican Revolution, and under John J. Pershing again in World War I. In 1926, Holmdahl was accused of having stolen Francisco "Pancho" Villa's head.

Born to Swedish–American immigrants on August 26, 1883 in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Holmdahl enlisted in the 51st Iowa Volunteers during the Spanish–American War, and subsequent Philippine–American War. When the rest of his regiment returned to the states, the now 16 year old Holmdahl opted to stay, joining the forces of the mercenary leader Edmund F. English to fight in China. Holmdahl reenlisted in the US Army's 20th Infantry Regiment, and spent the next several years learning jungle warfare and sharpshooting. At 22 he was on of the young sergeants in the regiment. Holmdahl returned to the US in 1906, just in time for the infamous earthquake.

Knowledgeable in jungle fighting techniques and soldiering, Holmdahl joined the mercenary troops of Lee Christmas in Honduras and Nicaragua. Christmas supported the Honduran President Manuel Bonilla against an invasion by Nicaragua in 1907 and fought to oust the Nicaraguan dictator Jose Santos Zelaya. Bonilla's counter offensive forced Nicaraguan troops to retreat. The American mercenary army led by Christmas played a major role in this action. In the fall of 1909, Zelaya left Managua. Holmdahl fought alongside, Sam Dreben and Tracy Richardson, two other American soldiers of fortune. They were highly paid and coveted as machine gun experts as the guns had recently become an important tactical weapon in warfare. The weapons were often unreliable and temperamental and those who could operate them well were almost exclusively former American soldiers.

Holmdahl returned to the United States in 1909. A severe recession in the United States that affected the Mexican economy combined with an Porfirio Diaz, an aging dictator who refused to allow free elections, created unrest all over Mexico. Holmdahl took a security job at a railroad company with the task to fight "bandits." Supposedly switching sides when he realized that the "bandits" were Insurrectos, launching the Costa Oeste Campaign against the federalist government. Holmdahl joined Francisco Madero's forces in the spring of 1911. Within months of an armed uprising that started in Chihuahua, Porfirio Diaz went into exile. Now a major, Holmdahl remained a member of the Mexican army through the spring of 1913. His first assignment took him to Morelos where he joined federal troops in a fight against Emiliano Zapata. Holmdahl also joined the Mexican Secret Service under the command of Felix A. Sommerfeld in the same period. As a machine gunner in Pancho Villa's irregulars he decimated Pascual Orozco's rebel forces, while relating important intelligence to Sommerfeld in El Paso. "We knocked the Hell out of him [Orozco] and his troops later while with Villa at San Andres where I earned the Legion of Honor medal."

When President Madero died in a coup d'état in February 1913, Holmdahl immediately joined the Constitutionalist forces under the command of Venustiano Carranza. After fighting in Sonora, the soldier of fortune was seriously injured and spent several months recovering in Douglas, Arizona. Still "thin and pale … but … cheerful," Holmdahl was assigned to Villa's forces around the beginning of November 1913. In the summer of 1914, the combined Constitutionalist forces ousted General Victoriano Huerta, who had usurped the presidency from Madero over a year prior. Not able to reconcile their differences, Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza split and started a new civil war in 1915. Holmdahl chose to remain with Carranza and helped smuggle arms and ammunition across the border into Mexico. Holmdahl was promptly caught, indicted, tried, and convicted in El Paso in the fall of 1915 for gunrunning. While free on bond, Holmdahl tried to re-join the US army but was rejected as a result of his felony conviction. Finally, in March 1916, in the aftermath of Pancho Villa's attack on Columbus, New Mexico, his application was approved. Holmdahl joined the Pancho Villa Expedition under the command of John J. Pershing as a scout.

As a prerequisite to join the US military permanently to fight in World War I, Holmdahl had to get his felony conviction overturned. He appealed to former commanders of his, Hugh L. Scott, by 1917 Army Chief of Staff, and John J. Pershing, the designated commander of the expeditionary forces, as well as members of Congress and the Mayor of El Paso Thomas Calloway Lea Jr. for a presidential pardon. Finally, in July 1917 Holmdahl received his pardon, joined the 6th Engineers and shipped out to France. After he returned to the US and worked selling off military surplus, Holmdahl left the US Army permanently in 1920.

In the early 1920s, Holmdahl became obsessed with finding "Pancho Villa's gold." Folklore had it that Villa hid millions of dollars in gold bullion somewhere in the Sierra Madre Mountains. Holmdahl organized several treasure hunting expeditions but did not find the gold. In 1926, while on a treasure hunting expedition, he stopped in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua. There federal police arrested Holmdahl and a companion and charged them with having vandalized Pancho Villa's grave and taken his head. Holmdahl was released after Ben F. Williams utilized his knowledge of Mexican law and his influence with Mayor Antonio Martinez to issue an order for his release. Villa's head was never recovered. While Holmdahl maintained his innocence until his death, the suspicion remains that he stole the head for an American customer. While there are many theories of who vandalized Villa's grave and who took the head, one rumor claims that Villa's skull ended up in the secret Skull and Bones Society at Yale University.

Emil Holmdahl died "on April 8, 1963, while loading his automobile with his prospecting tools..." age at the age of 79.