Emil Lewis Holmdahl
Soldier of Fortune
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 one 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.
The public source identifies “Emil Lewis Holmdahl” as soldier of Fortune. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Emil, Lewis and Holmdahl.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8775479. VIAF identifies the subject as 55970370. The Library of Congress control number is n2002039204. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1883, 1963, 1926 and 1906.
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This entry incorporates text from “Emil Lewis Holmdahl” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.