Arnie Holm

War widows long wait could end this summer



By BRAD RHEN

Staff Writer



Lebanon Daily News



Margarete Holms 35-year quest to bring her husbands remains home from Vietnam may be nearing its conclusion.

The North Cornwall Township woman has been waiting ever since her husband, Army helicopter pilot Capt. Arnold Holm, and two crew members were shot down over Vietnam on June 11, 1972.



Weve been pushing for quite a while now to get this resolved and bring him home, she said. We cant just give up. We cant just leave them there. Its just not right.



The crash site was not found until 2006, and a 2007 survey of the site was cut short due to local reports of heavy Agent Orange contamination in the area. However, subsequent analysis found no evidence of contamination.

Holm said officials eventually learned that the Agent Orange claims were fabricated.

They believed the story the village elder was telling them, and the village elder just didnt want them to go there, she said.

Agent Orange was a herbicide used by the U.S military in Vietnam to kill vegetation that the military said provided cover for the enemy. It is believed to have caused health problems for people who were exposed to it.

Earlier this year, Connecticut Congressman Joe Courtney announced that the Department of Defense expects to conduct an excavation of the crash site. Arnold Holm was a native of Waterford, Conn., which is in Courtneys district.

A release from Courtneys office said the excavation is scheduled to take place between June 11 and July 25.

I am grateful for all the work that has gone into finding Captain Holm, Courtney said in a news release. The Holm family and the Waterford community have waited a long time to see his search move forward. I am hopeful that the excavation this summer will bring Captain Holm one step closer to home.

Despite the passing of 35 years, Margarete Holm is confident the excavation will be successful.

I believe theyll find something, she said. After all, theres three of them theyre looking for. Even if they dont, at least we did what we could so there are no regrets later on.

Arnold Holm crashed while on a reconnaissance mission near Vietnams border with Laos. He and his two crewmen, Spc. Robin Yeakley of South Bend, Ind., and Pfc. Wayne Bibbs of Blue Island, Ill., were never found.

Holm, Yeakley and Bibbs were members of F Troop, 8th Cavalry Regiment. They were aboard an OH-6A observation helicopter when they were shot down.

In July 2006 after searchers had combed the dense jungle for years officials from the militarys Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command notified Margarete Holm that they believed they had located the site where the helicopter crashed.

Searchers recovered a helmet, a log-book holder from a scout helicopter that resembled the missing helicopter and parts of a machine gun. But the most important piece of evidence at the site was the discovery of a third seat. Margarete Holm said her husband flew a two-seat helicopter but had installed a third seat to hold a gunner or additional ammunition.

If any remains of the three men are found at the crash site, they will be taken to a lab in Hawaii, where DNA tests will be used to determine their identity.

Nearly 1,800 U.S. troops are still unaccounted for throughout Southeast Asia from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975. Of those, 1,353 are believed to be in Vietnam.

For Holm, until her husband comes home, she said all she can do is continue to wait and hope.

Sometimes thats the hardest part, the waiting, she said.




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