HOLLAND, DONNIE R.
Name: Donnie R. Holland
Rank/Branch: O5/US Air Force
Unit: 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Date of Birth: 1949
Home City of Record: Bastrop LA
Date of Loss: 16 January 1991
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates:
Status: Missing in Action
Status in 2002: KIA/Body Recovered
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F15E
Other Personnel in Incident: Thomas F. Koritz (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 09 March 1991 from one
or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
published sources, interviews. Update 2023 POW NETWORK.
REMARKS: OPERATION DESERT STORM
SYNOPSIS: LtCol. Donnie R. Holland is an Air Force officer from the 335th
Tactical Fighter Squadron based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North
Carolina. When his squadron shipped out to Saudi Arabia, Holland was assigned to
be weapons/systems operator onboard an F15E fighter/bomber.
Holland and his pilot, Maj. Thomas F. Koritz, participated in the first wave of
attacks on Iraqi military targets on January 16, 1991. Koritz was also an Air
Force surgeon. Holland had been in the Air Force for 17 years, but this was the
first combat mission he had flown. Three hours after the aircraft in the first
wave returned to base, Holland and Koritz had not returned and they were listed
missing in action.
On January 20, 1991, Cable News Network (CNN) described a propaganda parade of
Coalition POWs and reported on interviews with several POWs. Three POWs made
"peace" statements and were filmed and later shown on U.S. television, ensuring
that public record is available that they are held by the Iraqi. Holland and
Koritz were not mentioned in this, the first report of POWs of the war.
In the first days of March, 1991, 21 American POWs were released by the Iraqis.
Donnie R. Holland has not yet been released.
Those who recall the abandonment of American POWs in World War II, Korea and
Vietnam are watching carefully, determined that men like Holland will be
returned alive, or fully accounted for, before American troops leave the Middle
East when hostilities cease.
Donnie R. Holland was married and had two children, Heather, age 13 and Matthew,
age 11. His parents, Doug and Christine Holland reside in Bastrop, Louisiana.
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