HOLM, ARNOLD EDWARD JR.

Name: Arnold Edward Holm, Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Army
Unit:
Date of Birth: 05 March 1944 (New London CT)
Home City of Record: Waterford CT
Date of Loss: 11 June 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 162326N 1072407E (YD565135)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: OH6A
Refno: 1874

Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 2008.

Other Personnel In Incident: Wayne Bibbs; Robin R. Yeakley (missing from one
OH6A); James E. Hackett; James R. McQuade, Richard D. Wiley (missing from
second OH6A).

REMARKS: EXPLODE - NO PARABEEPERS - J

SYNOPSIS: By December 1971, U.S. troops in-country had declined dramatically
- from the 1968 peak of nearly 55,000 to less than 30,000. The enemy,
temporarily on the defensive by the moves into Cambodia in 1970 and Laos in
1971, began deploying new NVA forces southward in preparation for another
major offensive.

In March 1972, the Vietnamese launched a three-pronged invasion of the
South. One NVA force swept south across the DMZ, its goal apparently the
conquest of the northern provinces and the seizure of Hue. A second NVA
force drove from Laos into the Central Highlands, and a third effort
involved a drive from Cambodia into provinces northwest of Saigon.

Fierce fighting ensued on all three fronts, with NVA success the greatest in
the northern provinces. Fighting continued until by June, the North
Vietnamese began withdrawing from some of their advance positions, still
holding considerable amounts of South Vietnamese territory in the northern
provinces.

On June 11, 1972, Capt. Arnold Holm, pilot, PFC Wayne Bibbs, gunner, and SP4
Robin Yeakley, passenger, were aboard an OH6A observation helicopter flying
from Camp Eagle to the Northern Provinces of South Vietnam on a visual
reconnaissance mission. The function of their "Loach" chopper was searching
out signs of the enemy around two landing zones (LZ's). The OH6 joined with
the AH1G Cobra gunship as "Pink Teams" to screen the deployment of air
cavalry troops. On this day, Holm's aircraft was monitoring an ARVN team
insertion.

During the mission, Holm reported that he saw enemy living quarters,
bunkers, and numerous trails. On his second pass over a ridge, at about 25'
altitude, the aircraft exploded and burned. It was reported that before the
aircraft crashed that smoke and white phosphorous grenades began exploding.
After the aircraft impacted with the ground, it exploded again. Other
aircraft in the area received heavy anti-aircraft fire. No one was seen to
exit the downed helicopter, nor were emergency radio beepers detected.

In another OH6A (tail #67-16275), 1Lt. James R. McQuade, pilot, and SP4
James E. Hackett, gunner, tried to enter the area of the crashed OH6A, but
encountered heavy fire and their aircraft was also shot down. McQuade's
aircraft was hit, and the intensity of the resulting fire caused white
phosphorous and smoke grenades carried aboard the aircraft to explode prior
to hitting the ground. The aircraft continued to burn after impact and no
crewmen left the ship before or after the crash.

No ground search was made for survivors or remains of either aircraft
because of hostile fire in the area.

There are unanswered questions remaining from Vietnam. Of the nearly 2500
Americans who did not return alive or dead, experts venture that hundreds
may still be alive. Thousands of reports have been received concerning them.
Whether the two OH6A crews are among those seems unlikely. But one can
imagine their willingness to deploy on one more combat team to bring those
who are alive home to freedom.

====================

http://www.theday.com/news/ts-re.asp?NewsUID=D8785AD2-8436-4776-A938-F6B45A249CE1

Search for missing Waterford native to resume in Vietnam
Remains of Arnold Holm may be in different location

By Robert A. Hamilton
Published on 12/03/2002

A Pentagon team, armed with new information about the site where Waterford
native Arnold E. Holm Jr. was shot down over Vietnam in 1972, will search
for remains in a recovery effort next spring.

For 20 years the recovery teams have been concentrating on an area
identified in combat reports, but it now appears those reports were off by
almost two miles. Holm's helicopter went down within 1,000 feet of another
helicopter shot down the same day. The second helicopter was located about
9,500 feet to the southwest.

The Pentagon team is slated to return to Vietnam April 6 to June 17 of next
year to search for remains, and the Holm crash site is one of those it will
be checking, according to documents released to William Cavalieri, a
classmate of Holm from Waterford High School who has been lobbying for a
renewed look at the case.

"I feel 100 percent confident that if there is something to find, they are
going to find it," said Cavalieri.

"What bothers me is that they should have been looking at this site since at
least 1993. We should have had him back 10 years ago."

Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Department of Defense Prisoner of
War/Missing in Action Office (DPMO), said that Holm's widow, Margarete Holm
of Lebanon, Pa., will be brought up to date on new developments in the case
this week.

"She's going to be briefed on the plan in great detail on Wednesday," Greer
said. "I would hate to inadvertently release something before we've shared
it with her."

Mrs. Holm could not be reached for comment Monday.

Holm, a prominent athlete at Waterford High School in the late 1950s and
early 1960s, enlisted in the Army in 1962, the year he graduated, and later
earned a commission and was trained as a helicopter pilot. His aircraft was
shot down on June 11, 1972, in Hue Province, and a second helicopter piloted
by 1st Lt. James McQuade, sent in to look for survivors, was shot down a
short distance away.

In addition to Holm, two enlisted men, Pfc. Class Wayne Bibbs of Blue
Island, Ill., and Cpl. Robin R. Yeakley of South Bend, Ind., were in the
chopper. Spec. 4 James E. Hackett was killed in the McQuade crash.

On May 15, 1993, a team was sent in to look for the helicopters in the area
identified by others in the battle, but found nothing. In 1996 and again
this year there were efforts to find the crash site, also to no avail. All
three teams concluded that the rugged terrain and dense jungle growth would
foil any recovery attempt.

McQuade's helicopter was found, however, on May 18, 1993. Villagers who had
found a St. Christopher's medal with McQuade's name engraved on the back
turned it over to investigators and guided them to the site, where the
investigators found other personal effects, as well as some teeth and
skeletal remains.

In contrast to the area searched three days earlier, McQuade's helicopter
was found in an area with easy access - a one-minute walk from a landing
zone that is about 30 minutes from Hue, in a small knoll on a valley floor.

But the 1996 and 2002 searches both started from the original grid
coordinates, because no one ever cross-referenced the two cases.

According to documents Cavalieri received from DPMO at a conference in
Florida, the Army is going to provide reconnaissance photographs of three
square kilometers around the actual area of the McQuade crash site taken
June 11 and 12, 1972, in an attempt to locate the Holm crash.

"From all accounts, the two aircraft crashed in almost the same location,"
Cavalieri said. "When they got to the McQuade site, you would think there
would have been someone who said, `Wait a minute, there should be another
aircraft right around here.'

"I don't understand what took so long for someone to connect the two cases,"
Cavalieri said.

==============

Vietnam MIA honored
Family, friends and townspeople hear what's being done to find Arnold Holm.

By RAY HACKETT
Norwich Bulletin
5 April 2003

WATERFORD -- Bill Cavalieri stood at the fence looking out over the football
field, his face buried in his hands hiding the tears.

It was here some 40 years ago that he and his friend and classmate Arnold
Holm did battle on the gridiron as co-captains of the Waterford High School
Lancers football team.

But his thoughts Friday were of another field of battle half a world away.
On June 11, 1972, Army Capt. Arnold Holm was shot down over Vietnam. His
body and that of his crew never were recovered.

"I was his best man at his wedding," Cavalieri said Friday.

Cavalieri, who lives in Florida, returned to his alma mater Friday, joining
others from the class of 1962 and Holm's widow, Margarete, Holm's daughter,
Jennifer Cooper, and her two children, Cassidy and Nicholas, for an
emotional homecoming of sorts.

They had come to the high school to hear a briefing by officials from the
Defense Department POW/Missing Personnel Office on the ongoing efforts to
recover Holm's remains. An investigative unit from the Joint Task Force --
Full Accountability will launch a third attempt later this month at finding
the site where Holm's helicopter crashed nearly 31 years ago.

Two briefings were held at the Waterford Town Hall Friday, an afternoon
session attended by more than 200 high school students and an evening
session for the public. Another 200 people attended that session.

Holm's daughter thanked those who attended on behalf of the family. She told
the crowd she was only 4 when her father died, and over the last six months
has learned more about him from those who cared so deeply for him.

"We're in the right direction now," U.S. Navy Lt. Thom Petrella, a member of
the DPMO staff, told the gatherings. "We believe that we now have the best
information, the best intelligence and we believe we're going to find the
site and bring Capt. Holm back home here to Waterford."

The DPMO routinely makes such presentations to the families of those still
missing. U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, arranged for the Waterford
hearings at the request of Holm's family and friends.

"It is their unswerving faith that their government would being him back
home," Simmons said. "Without their involvement, we probably wouldn't be
having this presentation today."

For this small coastline community, Holm was a young man of great promise
who made a mark on all those who knew him. Captain of the high school
football, basketball and baseball teams, he was active in his church and
community.

"He was probably one of the most caring individuals I have ever known,"
First Selectman Paul Eccard, who attended the same church as Holm, said. "I
can't tell you what this has meant for this community. People are constantly
coming to my office asking how the search is going."

In large part, this new attempt at locating Holm's crash site is because of
Cavalieri and students from the high school civics class. Meeting with the
students to talk about Holm last year, Cavalieri asked them to help.

"There were four other helicopter pilots flying with Arnie that day,"
Cavalieri said, "and these kids, using a computer, found all four of them.
And because of that, we now think we know exactly where Arnie's crash site
is."

For Holm's widow, Friday was more than just a day to be briefed by the
government. With her daughter, grandchildren, and her husband's sister,
Margaret Brewster, they toured the high school.

They walked the halls where he walked, visiting the old gym where he played
and viewed the trophies bearing his name mounted behind glass. The high
school band played for them in the school's music room, bringing more tears
to eyes.

"The effort that went into this by the students, the teachers, Arnie's
classmates, the town, it goes beyond touching," Margarete Holm said. "The
caring, the number of people who still remember him. When I die, if I
achieve a small portion of that, then I will have lived a full life."

The school's main lobby had two displays -- a tribute to Holm and one to
1999 Waterford High School graduate, Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom Chanawongse, who
was reported missing in action March 23 in Iraq.

Eccard read a letter from Chanawongse's mother during the evening session,
saying how proud she was to live in a town and a country that was committed
to returning those who have fought for this country.

"It's so sad," Margarete Holm said. "To think, of all the towns in the
country, that here there would be two from this school. I know how the
family must feel."

=====================
Vietnam MIA pilot may be found after 30 years
April 6, 2003
Eyewitness News via www.wfsb.com

WATERFORD -- For nearly 31 years, a Waterford man has been struggling to
discover what happened to his best friend, missing in action in Vietnam.
Now, there is new hope in the search.

Arnie Holm has been missing in action since his plane went down in Vietnam
in June of 1972. Since then, his best friend Bill Cavalieri has been
fighting to find his remains and bring them home to Waterford. Cavalieri and
others gathered Friday to remember Holm and renew their commitment to the
search.

Cavalieri : "No information for 30 years, 30 and a half years. And then a
wealth of information."

The wealth of information came from a civics class at the high school that
Cavalieri spoke to about his search.

"I mentioned that I needed their help, That I couldn't do this any longer by
myself. I was one voice."

Within one week, those kids got on the Internet and worked their magic. They
found all three pilots. With information supplied by a pilot familiar with
the incident, the Defense Department now has the exact location of the crash
and is going back to search the site.

What's kept Cavalieri going all this time?

"My friendship with him. . . . I was the best man at his wedding, and I
loved the man. And [I] certainly know he would do the same for me. But it's
been a very very frustrating experience.

Even after over 30 years, Cavalieri never gave up hope.

"My goal, my dream, is to bring his remains back to Waterford, right out to
that football field and to have a memorial service to honor him for what he
did. . . . [then] get on a train and accompany his body to Arlington and
give the proper military burial he deserves. Simple as that."

All content c Copyright 2001 - 2003 WorldNow and WFSB

===========================

Vietnam MIA honored
Family, friends and townspeople hear what's being done to find Arnold Holm.
By RAY HACKETT
Norwich Bulletin

WATERFORD -- Bill Cavalieri stood at the fence looking out over the football
field, his face buried in his hands hiding the tears.

It was here some 40 years ago that he and his friend and classmate Arnold
Holm did battle on the gridiron as co-captains of the Waterford High School
Lancers football team.

But his thoughts Friday were of another field of battle half a world away.
On June 11, 1972, Army Capt. Arnold Holm was shot down over Vietnam. His
body and that of his crew never were recovered.

"I was his best man at his wedding," Cavalieri said Friday.

Cavalieri, who lives in Florida, returned to his alma mater Friday, joining
others from the class of 1962 and Holm's widow, Margarete, Holm's daughter,
Jennifer Cooper, and her two children, Cassidy and Nicholas, for an
emotional homecoming of sorts.

They had come to the high school to hear a briefing by officials from the
Defense Department POW/Missing Personnel Office on the ongoing efforts to
recover Holm's remains. An investigative unit from the Joint Task Force --
Full Accountability will launch a third attempt later this month at finding
the site where Holm's helicopter crashed nearly 31 years ago.

Two briefings were held at the Waterford Town Hall Friday, an afternoon
session attended by more than 200 high school students and an evening
session for the public. Another 200 people attended that session.

Holm's daughter thanked those who attended on behalf of the family. She told
the crowd she was only 4 when her father died, and over the last six months
has learned more about him from those who cared so deeply for him.

"We're in the right direction now," U.S. Navy Lt. Thom Petrella, a member of
the DPMO staff, told the gatherings. "We believe that we now have the best
information, the best intelligence and we believe we're going to find the
site and bring Capt. Holm back home here to Waterford."

The DPMO routinely makes such presentations to the families of those still
missing. U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, arranged for the Waterford
hearings at the request of Holm's family and friends.

"It is their unswerving faith that their government would being him back
home," Simmons said. "Without their involvement, we probably wouldn't be
having this presentation today."

For this small coastline community, Holm was a young man of great promise
who made a mark on all those who knew him. Captain of the high school
football, basketball and baseball teams, he was active in his church and
community.

"He was probably one of the most caring individuals I have ever known,"
First Selectman Paul Eccard, who attended the same church as Holm, said. "I
can't tell you what this has meant for this community. People are constantly
coming to my office asking how the search is going."

In large part, this new attempt at locating Holm's crash site is because of
Cavalieri and students from the high school civics class. Meeting with the
students to talk about Holm last year, Cavalieri asked them to help.

"There were four other helicopter pilots flying with Arnie that day,"
Cavalieri said, "and these kids, using a computer, found all four of them.
And because of that, we now think we know exactly where Arnie's crash site
is."

For Holm's widow, Friday was more than just a day to be briefed by the
government. With her daughter, grandchildren, and her husband's sister,
Margaret Brewster, they toured the high school.

They walked the halls where he walked, visiting the old gym where he played
and viewed the trophies bearing his name mounted behind glass. The high
school band played for them in the school's music room, bringing more tears
to eyes.

"The effort that went into this by the students, the teachers, Arnie's
classmates, the town, it goes beyond touching," Margarete Holm said. "The
caring, the number of people who still remember him. When I die, if I
achieve a small portion of that, then I will have lived a full life."

The school's main lobby had two displays -- a tribute to Holm and one to
1999 Waterford High School graduate, Marine Cpl. Kemaphoom Chanawongse, who
was reported missing in action March 23 in Iraq.

Eccard read a letter from Chanawongse's mother during the evening session,
saying how proud she was to live in a town and a country that was committed
to returning those who have fought for this country.

"It's so sad," Margarete Holm said. "To think, of all the towns in the
country, that here there would be two from this school. I know how the
family must feel."

rhackett@norwichbulletin.com
Originally published Saturday, April 5, 2003
Copyright c2003 Norwich Bulletin

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctmia0725.artjul25,0,6170777.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

New Clues To An MIA's Remains

Gear Found On Ridge In Vietnam Could Point Way To Pilot From State Who
Crashed In '72

By JESSE HAMILTON
Courant Staff Writer

July 25 2006

The remains of a Connecticut soldier may soon be coming home - from Vietnam.

More than 34 years after he rode his helicopter in an explosive plunge into
the Vietnam jungle, the wreckage from U.S. Army Capt. Arnold "Dusty" Holm's
fatal descent has been discovered.

Probably.

U.S. teams never abandoned the search for the missing aircraft and its
three-man crew, though trip after trip into the dense jungle had led
nowhere. It had been so frustrating that the effort was about to be set
aside to make room for other continuing searches for American remains in the
remote areas of that country in Southeast Asia.

But this year, on July 7, search crews came across the last resting place of
the little scout helicopter - and presumably that of the men aboard,
including Holm from Waterford. Atop a ridge, in an area about the size of a
football field, searchers discovered 34-year-old artifacts. Part of an M-16
rifle. A helmet. The cover of a log book. And perhaps most telling: evidence
that this Hughes OH6A Cayuse helicopter, known as a Loach, had an unusual
third seat.

There were three seats in the craft piloted by Holm, leader of a scout
platoon in a unit known as the Blue Ghosts.

Wife Margarete Holm had never extinguished hope, herself, the spot would be
found where her husband of six years had fallen. She had always felt the
search for her husband and all other missing U.S. troops in Vietnam is a
debt of honor. "We can't just leave them."

So, over the weekend, Holm went to an event in Syracuse, N.Y., for families
of those missing in action. She was approached by an official from the Joint
POW/MIA Accounting Command. He was grinning. "I've got some really good
news," he said.

The search crews were just emerging from weeks in the jungle and had sent
word to him about the discovery.

"I was stunned," said Holm, who never remarried. "After all these years and
after so many tries."

Tracking Mission

On June 11, 1972, Holm and two passengers, Pfc. Wayne Bibbs and Spec. Robin
Yeakley, were tracking enemy movement in the Easter Offensive, a final major
clash involving U.S. forces, as they were withdrawing from the war.

According to military reports, Holm, a highly decorated 28-year-old captain,
had spotted enemy living quarters, bunkers and trails in this border country
west of Hue. Then he reported being fired upon.

Highly maneuverable Loaches such as his were known for flying low, to get
the closest possible look at the enemy. In this case, the helicopter was
about 25 feet off the ground. It passed over a ridge and exploded. As the
helicopter fell, witnesses saw more explosions, probably grenades carried
within. When it slammed into the ground, it was shaken by another blast.
Nobody was seen emerging from the fiery wreckage.

Another Loach raced toward the crash site of "Blue Ghost White," Holm's call
sign, but that helicopter, too, was claimed in the fury of ground fire.

Years ago, the second helicopter was found and its crew returned home for
burial. But Holm's helicopter wreckage remained missing. That was
frustrating for Bill Cavalieri, best man at the wedding of Arnold and
Margarete.

Cavalieri, who lives in Florida, took it upon himself to track down
information about the final moments of his lost friend.

"He's never left my mind," Cavalieri said Monday. When records were
declassified, he hunted for them, trying to tighten the circle around the
possible crash site. "We always had a real close general vicinity where it
was."

Then he enlisted a teacher and class from Waterford High School, where
Arnold Holm had long ago been captain of the football, baseball and
basketball teams. Brett Arnold and his students helped track down a witness
to the crash, another pilot who could further narrow the search area, and
they've since kept an active hand in the case. "We always share the story of
Capt. Holm," Arnold said. "It's very much a part of everyday class."

In 2003, another search was organized. U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, whose 2nd
Congressional District includes Waterford, decided to go along - his first
trip back to the former war zone where he'd been an Army officer.

"I've put a lot of emotional energy into this case," he said. "It speaks to
all veterans, that we want to bring our buddies home."

Though the search turned up a U.S. military watch, jungle boots, a military
flashlight and some electrical parts, it was impossible to tell whether they
were connected to the crash.

Zeroing In On The Ridge

In each search over the years, there had always been one detail missing. The
crash story had mentioned a ridge, but none of the searches had focused on a
ridge - until now. "They decided to take one last look," said Margarete
Holms. On the nearest ridge, there it was.

Simmons had been only 2 kilometers away in 2003. When he announced the find
Monday, he called the news "a wonderful breakthrough." But the search isn't
over.

At the end of the rainy season next spring, a team of experts and laborers
may trek to the spot and begin an excavation. But the military agency that
handles such missions is still working on its budget for the coming year and
is unable to confirm the recovery mission will happen then.

It is, because of the extreme acidity of Vietnamese soil, a race against
nature. "Over decades, remains and other evidence tend to deteriorate fairly
rapidly," said Troy Kitch, spokesman for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting
Command.

If it does happen, typical success stories end with bone fragments and
teeth, enough for DNA technology to identify.

Simmons wants to be there. So does Cavalieri, for the end of this "emotional
roller coaster ride."

If remains are found, and the family has something to bury in Arlington
National Cemetery, they will first make a stop back in Connecticut - the
home that the pilot, whose wife described him simply as "something that a
lot of men want to be but are not," had meant to return to. Margarete Holm
and Jennifer Cooper, their daughter who was 4 in 1972, will have a memorial
service at a New London church, the same church where the Holms were married
40 years ago and where Arnold Holm was baptized.

There, his friends and family can finally set the Vietnam War in its
rightful place: the past.

Contact Jesse Hamilton at jhamilton@courant.com.
Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant

================================================

Hartford Courant, The (CT) (KRT)
July 28, 2006

Lost Pilot's Saga Persists
Jesse Hamilton

Jul. 28--Knowing where U.S. Army Capt. Arnold "Dusty" Holm's remains can be
found isn't enough.

Just because the military recovery teams have a good idea where Holm, from
Waterford, and two crewmen crashed in a Vietnamese jungle 34 years ago
doesn't mean their long-awaited return home will be this year. Or even next
year.

Search teams this month discovered what appears to be the spot where Holm's
scout helicopter smashed into the ground, downed by the fire of one of that
war's last major battles. But going back to Vietnam in the spring, after the
rainy season, will take money, diplomatic juggling with Vietnam and
intensive effort from a U.S. military team.

There are, decades later, more than 1,800 servicemen listed as missing from
that war. The military's Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
recovers several each year, and getting this particular case on their
existing schedule for 2007 was U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons' goal Thursday.

The congressman, who represents Holm's hometown, met with defense officials
and made "a verbal request that they add this site prep and excavation into
this '07 plan." He added that such an addition should only be made "with the
understanding that it not remove any other excavation from the schedule."

Simmons, who traveled to Vietnam three years ago and joined the search for
the crash site, said he's uncertain how long it will take to get an answer.
"I made the request, and I hope to get a positive response."

Though the site where the helicopter crashed isn't far from Hue, it is
spread along both sides of a steep ridge. The jungle soils are acidic,
consuming organic material quickly, usually leaving nothing more of human
remains than scattered teeth and bones.

If remains from the crash are recovered, DNA experts will try to match them
with the three helicopter occupants: Holm, Spec. Robin Yeakley and Pfc.
Wayne Bibbs. That will be done in a lab in Hawaii, and it could take six to
eight months, possibly delaying answers until 2008, Simmons said.

The congressman revealed more details Thursday about evidence recovered at
the site. There was a cover from a log book or clipboard, he said, that was
marked OH-6, the designation of a small helicopter, known as a Loach, that
Holm was flying. There was evidence of an M-16 rifle, an M-79 grenade
launcher and an M-60 machine gun. Teams of local laborers will be needed to
clear the site and prepare it for weeks of excavation.

"Logistically, this is a big operation," Simmons said.

Bringing home the remains is the only way the brother of Wayne Bibbs, Andei,
will believe his brother is truly dead. Andei Bibbs, 49, lives in Chicago
and has never lost hope that his older brother may still be alive somewhere.
"I'll never believe it until I have a body, some bones," he said. His
parents, who shared that thought, have long since died, leaving him and one
other brother the only immediate family members.

Like Holm's family, the Wayne Bibbs family has attended events for families
of the missing and has lived in uncertainty. "He was a survivor," Andei
Bibbs said of his brother. "If that's him, he went down fighting."

Witnesses of the 1972 crash described the craft going down, battered by
explosions. Another helicopter crew racing in after it suffered the same
fate. Its wreckage was found at a nearby site years ago; the remains of its
two crewmen were recovered.

Simmons, who in 2003 was on one of many searches over the years for Holm's
helicopter, came home with inconclusive evidence. "I was disappointed," he
said. "The amazing thing was we were only about 200 meters away."

====================================

JPAC Budget Shortfall Puts Holm Recovery on Hold 'til 2008

27 July, 2006
Search for remains of Waterford man MIA in Vietnam War hits snag

By RAY HACKETT

NORWICH - The search for the remains of Waterford native Arnold Holm hit yet
another snag today, stealing some of the joy that came with an announcement
earlier this week his helicopter crash site had finally been found after 34
years.

The search for the remains of Holm and his two crewmen may have to wait
until 2008.

Holm, a U.S. Army captain and helicopter pilot, was shot down June 11, 1972,
over the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Four previous attempts in the last 13
years to locate the crash site proved unsuccessful. A fifth and final
attempt made this year has apparently yielded sufficient evidence to suggest
the site had been found.

But U.S. Rep Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, said the excavation of the crash
site may be delayed a year because of a lack of funding in the Defense
Department budget.

"Currently, it is not in the '07 plan," Simmons said in a telephone
conference call after meeting with officials from the Department of Defense
POW/Missing Office in Washington today. "I made an official request that
this be added to the '07 plan, with the understanding that it not remove
another excavation that is planned. I wouldn't want to do that to another
family that is waiting."

Simmons said defense officials told him they would get back to him regarding
the request, but gave no time frame as to when.

==================================================

After 35 Years, MIA Holm May Be Coming Home To Waterford

His Vietnam crash site is on list for excavation

By Jennifer Grogan    Published on 6/11/2007

Capt. Arnold E. Holm Jr. Waterford — After 35 years, the U.S. government may finally live up to its promise of “no man left behind” to the Holm family. Today is the 35th anniversary of the day that Waterford native Capt. Arnold E. Holm Jr. disappeared. Holm, nicknamed “Dusty,” had been flying reconnaissance in a small scout helicopter in Thua Thien-Hue province in central Vietnam, just north of Da Nang. Enemy fire sent him and his crewmates crashing through the jungle canopy. After several failed search attempts, the crash site was discovered last summer. Johnie E. Webb, deputy commander for support and external relations for Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, recently confirmed that Holm's site is now an alternate for excavation in 2007 and a primary site for 2008. A team may go to Vietnam as early as this summer to refine the perimeters of the site. “We owe it to the individuals who gave their lives for our country and our freedom to do all we can to bring them back to their homeland and families,” Webb said. Holm's sister, Margaret Brewster, called that “wonderful news.” “I'm just thankful that this is beginning to close now,” said Brewster, who lives in Cromwell. “I've lost just about all of my family and I've dealt with it. With him, I still picture him as 28 years old, coming home from Vietnam, and I have not been able to reconcile that.” The search for Holm and his two crewmates, Pfc. Wayne Bibbs of Illinois and Spc. Robin Yeakley of Indiana, may be nearing its end, but it was not long ago that budget cuts and a backlog of other cases stalled and almost stopped the effort. The JPAC search team declared that the July 2006 mission would be the last search for Holm. When Holm and his crew crashed in 1972, a rescue team went looking for them later the same day. “We started taking heavy fire and we tried to work around it but we couldn't,” said First Lt. Frank Walker, a scout pilot from another unit who helped look for them. Walker said they headed back to “refuel, rearm and regroup.” Walker and First Lt. James R. McQuade decided to try to approach the site from another direction. But the two pilots, who were in separate planes, came under heavy fire again. “I made the call to evacuate the area but Jim continued to fly,” said Walker, who now lives in Rock Hill, S.C. “He made a turn to come out and as he rolled out of his turn, he exploded midair. I flew over the wreckage and I was convinced, without a shadow of a doubt, that there was not a chance in the world that anyone could have survived, so we came back out.” The remains of McQuade and his crew were discovered in 1993. “We never did recover Dusty so I see it as unfinished business,” Walker said. JPAC later searched the area for Holm and his crew, but found nothing. The search effort gained momentum again in 2002, after Brett Arnold, a civics teacher at Waterford High School, and his students asked Rob Simmons, who was then the congressman representing the 2nd District, to step in. Simmons, a Vietnam veteran, agreed, and went along on a search mission in April 2003. The team was unsuccessful, and later learned that they were searching only about 200 meters away from the correct site. “There is always a sense of obligation when you serve in the military. You do everything in your power to protect your buddies and when a buddy falls, you bring them off the battlefield,” Simmons, now the state business advocate, said earlier this month. “The family will never have closure until the remains have been returned.” JPAC had enough funding for one more try. Flying overhead on July 7, 2006, the team spotted a debris field that matched the crew's last radio call. The key to identifying it as Holm's crash site was the discovery of a third seat, the kind built into a helicopter designed to accommodate only two people. Holm's helicopter was configured in this way. “To get the news last year that they finally found his crash site was an emotional day,” said Bill Cavalieri, Holm's best friend from his days at Waterford High School. “Then to hear that they could not schedule the excavation until at least 2008 was disheartening, to say the least.” When U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney was elected to represent the 2nd District, one of the first calls he received was from Brewster. “My predecessor did a great job as far as getting the ball rolling and we certainly want to make sure the effort continues,” Courtney said. “We are going to be following up with the Pentagon to make sure there is no slippage in terms of the schedule.” Webb, of JPAC, said the site is located in difficult terrain and a lot of clearing will be required. If discovered, the remains would have to go through a battery of DNA tests before they are given to the family. Both Simmons and Walker hope to take part in the excavation. Cavalieri, who lives in Tarpon Springs, Fla., said that if the JPAC team does not go to the site in 2008, he would. “My plan is to work with the Vietnamese government, go to Vietnam, hire a local guide to take me to the crash site and place a cross in his memory,” Cavalieri said. “That will give me the closure I need.” As a child, Paul Eccard, former first selectman of Waterford, went to church with Holm. Even then, he said he viewed Holm as a hero. “Whether it's this year or next, I'll be glad for the day when Arnie comes home,” he said. “Waterford will welcome him home. All of the people who were associated with him will be relieved, and at peace, when that day comes.” Holm's widow, Margarete, said that when her husband's remains return stateside, she will hold a memorial service at the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in New London, where they were married in 1966 and where Holm was baptized, followed by a burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. “I get excited, but we'll just have to wait, and of course there are two other sets of families who are really anxious to have this solved,” said Margarete Holm, who lives in Lebanon, Penn. “We can't just turn our backs on them and forget. They need to come home.” Waterford

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--vietnamsearch0126jan26,0,397972.story
Excavation plans set in search for remains of Vietnam soldiers
Newsday, NY - 5 hours ago
WATERFORD, Conn. - The remains of a local Vietnam soldier missing in action
since 1972 along with two crewmates could be identified and returned to the
US ...


http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-remains0126.artjan26,0,5320021.story
Search Set For Vet's Remains
Hartford Courant, United States - 15 hours ago
By JESSE A. HAMILTON | Washington Bureau Chief January 26, 2008 The
excavation for a Waterford veteran's remains in Vietnam has finally been
scheduled, ...
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