Man Reunites Late Marine's World War II Uniform with His Family. Here’s Why They Let Him Keep It

"I would never have imagined just owning this jacket would've turned into all of this," collector Austin Wideman tells PEOPLE

When he’s not working his regular day job as an electrician in Pacific, Mo., 26-year-old Austin Wideman collects World War II memorabilia, specifically items connected to the 4th Marine Division. So far, Wideman has 40 pieces of used gear, including one very notable item: a jacket with a shrapnel hole.

When he purchased the jacket online from a dealer in Gloucester, Va., Wideman had no idea he would play an important role in reuniting former Marine William Watson Holmes' battle-worn uniform with the late soldier’s family.

“It feels awesome to be a part of that,” Wideman tells PEOPLE.

Related: World War II Vet, 100, Marries Fiancée, 96, in France amid D-Day 80th Anniversary: 'Beside Myself with Joy'

After purchasing the jacket, which featured ‘Holmes WW’ and ‘332’ stenciled on the back, Wideman was able to identify the Marine who wore it.

“The half circle stands for the 4th Marine Division,” Wideman describes the uniform to PEOPLE. "The ‘3’ stands for the 23rd Marine Regiment. The ‘2’ stands for Second Battalion, and then the last ‘2’ means he was in E Company. Knowing that, I was able to determine what unit he was in." From there, he was able to confirm that "Holmes WW" could only refer to one person.

Then, it was time to learn about the Marine who wore the jacket.

Through the National Archives at St. Louis, which houses military personnel files, Wideman learned that Holmes was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1925 and joined the military after finishing high school in 1943.

As a member of H Company, Holmes participated in a military campaign on the island of Roi-Namur in February 1944.  After U.S. forces secured Roi-Namur, Holmes took part in the Battle of Saipan, which he survived, while 3,000 Americans lost their lives.

Two weeks later, Holmes and the 23rd Marine Regiment landed on the island of Tinian. On July 25, 1944, he was wounded in a land mine explosion during a Japanese offensive that resulted in shrapnel on his back. Due to his injuries, Holmes couldn't return to his unit until the following year.

Following the end of the war, Holmes returned to San Antonio, got married and became a father of two. He died decades later in 1984.

Related: Dozens of WWII Vets Flown to France to Mark D-Day's 80th Anniversary: 'Our Duty and Honor'

One question remains: how did Holmes’ jacket from the time of his war injury in the Pacific find its way to Virginia where the dealer who sold it to Wideman is from?

As Wideman explains: “It's a miracle that this jacket even survived, because usually when someone's wounded and if it's bad, they'll either cut the jacket off of them or they'll just pitch it in a pile of dirty clothes and they would get disposed of on the island.”

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“But with his condition — since he took shrapnel to his back — I don't think they wanted to try to touch him because of his wound,” Wideman continues. ”So he was shipped to a hospital in Lee Hall, Va., and he was in a medically induced coma."

"I think once they got him into stable condition, they removed the jacket from him. Once they removed the jacket, it probably got tossed into a pile of other [clothes]. It was probably washed at the hospital, and then it either stayed there or somehow went from the hospital to the house of the guy who I bought it from," he says, noting that the man's house is only about a 30 minute drive away.

Related: WWII Vet Reunites with Siblings He Saved in 1944 — and Calls Their Mom the 'Real Hero'

Wideman later posted the images of the jacket and biographical information about Holmes on the U.S. Militaria Forum, where he made the original online purchase. About two months later, a person named Mark Holmes replied to the post and said that William Holmes was his grandfather.

"I was so excited to find this," Mark's message read. "I sent it to 2 of his sons and they were ecstatic! I’m very curious for any more info you may have. Did you know William (Bill)? What is the location of his uniform? Thanks!”

The collector says he "wasn't expecting Mark to find" the post, but that he's "really happy that he did."

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Wideman and Mark, who did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment, started a conversation about the man's grandfather.

In an interview with Newsweek, Mark, a firefighter/paramedic with the Houston Fire Department, said that he was only 3 months old when his grandfather died of lung cancer at the age of 59. "I remember my dad telling me my grandpa went to Roi-Namur and that always stuck with me," he said.

This past July, Mark and his dad Randall Holmes visited St. Louis and met Wideman, who showed them their loved one’s uniform. The poignant reunion, in which Randall inspected and touched his dad’s combat jacket for the first time, was captured on video and shared on Wideman’s Instagram account.

“Once I laid the jacket down, I mean, it was just the center of attention of the room. Mark was looking over it pretty carefully. But then when Randall came in, that's when I started recording. I knew he was going to have a good reaction," Wideman says. "He was just kind of awestruck by the jacket. He's just looking over just the tiniest details of the jacket. It was just so cool to see that connection between a father and a son.”

Wideman gave Mark and Randall a replica of the P41 jacket that Holmes wore, and Mark and Randall presented mementos to Wideman from Holmes’ time in the military. Wideman remains the custodian of Holmes’ original jacket, which also contained a handkerchief and a matchbook in a pocket.

“They've donated this stuff to me to continue their family's legacy,” Wideman says, “and I've already made it aware that if for some reason anything were to happen to me or my collection, all of this is going back to the family. But for the time being, they're very happy that their family history is being shared and continued.”

Wideman says collectors often get too wrapped up in their items without seeing the bigger picture. “It's the stories of these Marines.” he says of what the jacket represents. “The takeaway is just the stories and the stories that each item can tell. I would never have imagined just owning this jacket would've turned into all of this…This is what it's all about: is sharing the stories and keeping these stories alive.”

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