Portland’s Eddy Holcomb VFW Voice of Democracy National Placer

Eddy Holcomb, a senior at Portland High School, recently traveled to Washington DC to participate in the VFW Voice of Democracy essay program. 

Holcomb won the VFW Voice of Democracy essay contest for the state of Michigan out of 813 other entries. This qualified him for the National level contest where he placed 15th out of 54 state and regional representatives. Nationwide there were nearly 30,000 entries in 2024.

Holcomb won a total of $8,300 in scholarship money from both state and national scholarships thought the VFW.  Voice of Democracy is the VFW’s most prestigious and longest running scholarship program.  It was established in 1947.

Holcomb in involved in numerous extra-curricular activities at PHS.  He is the President of the local National Honors Society, secretary of the PHS student council, captain of the PHS tennis team, and co-captain on the color guard. 

He is currently performing as Sebastian the crab in the PHS production of The Little Mermaid.

The Holcomb family told the Beacon, “We're extremely thankful for our local post VFW 4090, our District (9), & State of Michigan posts for all they've done for Eddy! They really looked out for him & took care of him at every step.”

You can find more information on the VFW Voice Of Democracy essay contest HERE.