Hollister was a fighter pilot in the navy. He was wounded in Vietnam. He was decorated twice and honourably discharged. After that, he became a freelance international photo journalist. Hollister's girlfriend worked with the Peace Corps. She and Wes Anderson's wife were both killed during the fighting in Saigon. Though he and his partner in crime, Wes Anderson, were involved in some brilliantly-conceived thefts, Hollister was never convicted of anything. Paul used the money from his thefts to help people leave Vietnam and move to wherever they wanted to go.