Sunday, July 30, 2006
F/8 Crew
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Article published Jul 24, 2006
Crash site of lost Waterford Vietnam veteran found
NORWICH - U.S. Military officials have apparently discovered the crash site
of Army Capt. Arnie Holm of Waterford, missing in action in the Vietnam War
since June 11, 1972. U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, said today he
was notified by Holms widow that she had received a call telling her of the
discovery.
Pieces of the helicopter Holm was piloting were reportedly found on a ridge
near sites where previous searches have been conducted. An excavation of the
site for remains will likely not be started until next year because of the
oncoming rainy season, Simmons said.
According to military investigation reports on the crash, on June 11, 1972,
Holm, 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. The OH6 joined with the Cobra gunship as "Pink
Teams" on a reconaissance mission to find enemy troops. On this day, Holm's
aircraft was monitoring a group of North Vietnamese regulars.
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
feet 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.
Wayne Bibbs - F/8
Chicago Tribune
July 26, 2006
For MIA Family, Possible Closure
Found wreckage may end long ordeal
By Jason George, Tribune staff reporter
In June of 1972, an Army captain and two helicopter crewmen--one from Illinois, the other from Indiana--were shot down over Vietnam. For 34 years, the wreckage and the men's remains were lost to the jungle.
Now, Defense Department investigators believe they've located the site of the downed chopper and appear one step closer to ending a long wait filled with frustrating dead ends and false leads.
Pfc. Wayne Bibbs of Blue Island was the door gunner in the cramped Hughes Cayuse helicopter that was on a scouting mission near the Laotian border.
Bibbs, who had left Eisenhower High School for the Army and Southeast Asia, was just three days short of his 18th birthday when the helicopter was downed June 11.
His disappearance, and the fact that his body was never recovered, caused decades of anguish for his now-deceased parents and three siblings, brother Andrei Bibbs said Tuesday from his Chicago home.
"My mother was always trying to find out, going to MIA/POW meetings in Washington, D.C., and Missouri," Bibbs said, adding that she died a decade ago. "We were always searching," he said. "We always wondered."
Margarete Holm--whose husband, Capt. Arnold "Dusty" Holm, was the helicopter's pilot--learned of the findings on Saturday from representatives of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, which heads the recovery efforts for lost soldiers.
"As soon as I walked in, they all had huge smiles on their faces and said they had good news," she said by telephone from her home in Lebanon, Pa. "They had just gotten the report a day or so before."
That report says that on July 7, search crews located an approximately 200-by-260-foot crash site that contains a helmet, ammunition, portions of an M-16 rifle and, most importantly, the wreckage of a Cayuse helicopter, unusually configured with three seats.
"My husband's helicopter had three seats," Holm said. "They are quite positive this is the right one because no other one has the three seats.
"They can't be 100 percent sure until the DNA is analyzed, but they are 99 percent sure," she said.
Troy Kitch, a JPAC spokesman, shared Holm's cautious optimism. "We believe we have found the site," he said.
This month's search, which Holm said was the last one planned, came after several years of fruitless trips in Vietnam's remote jungles--some just meters from the recently discovered site.
Confirmation that the wreckage is that of the helicopter carrying Holm, Bibbs and Spc. Robin Yeakley, of South Bend, Ind., will not come until next year at the soonest, Kitch said. A recovery team, which can't do its work until after the upcoming rainy season, needs to visit the site in hopes of finding some remains, he said. Whatever is recovered would have to be analyzed.
"The bottom line is that until our forensic experts back here in the lab get ahold of it, we don't know," Kitch said.
Andrei Bibbs was 14 when his older brother left for Vietnam. "I looked up to him. He was my mentor. I really miss him," he said.
If remains are recovered, Bibbs said he would bury his brother at Burr Oaks Cemetery in Alsip.
There, in death, Wayne Bibbs would be reunited at last with his parents.
July 26, 2006
For MIA Family, Possible Closure
Found wreckage may end long ordeal
By Jason George, Tribune staff reporter
In June of 1972, an Army captain and two helicopter crewmen--one from Illinois, the other from Indiana--were shot down over Vietnam. For 34 years, the wreckage and the men's remains were lost to the jungle.
Now, Defense Department investigators believe they've located the site of the downed chopper and appear one step closer to ending a long wait filled with frustrating dead ends and false leads.
Pfc. Wayne Bibbs of Blue Island was the door gunner in the cramped Hughes Cayuse helicopter that was on a scouting mission near the Laotian border.
Bibbs, who had left Eisenhower High School for the Army and Southeast Asia, was just three days short of his 18th birthday when the helicopter was downed June 11.
His disappearance, and the fact that his body was never recovered, caused decades of anguish for his now-deceased parents and three siblings, brother Andrei Bibbs said Tuesday from his Chicago home.
"My mother was always trying to find out, going to MIA/POW meetings in Washington, D.C., and Missouri," Bibbs said, adding that she died a decade ago. "We were always searching," he said. "We always wondered."
Margarete Holm--whose husband, Capt. Arnold "Dusty" Holm, was the helicopter's pilot--learned of the findings on Saturday from representatives of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, which heads the recovery efforts for lost soldiers.
"As soon as I walked in, they all had huge smiles on their faces and said they had good news," she said by telephone from her home in Lebanon, Pa. "They had just gotten the report a day or so before."
That report says that on July 7, search crews located an approximately 200-by-260-foot crash site that contains a helmet, ammunition, portions of an M-16 rifle and, most importantly, the wreckage of a Cayuse helicopter, unusually configured with three seats.
"My husband's helicopter had three seats," Holm said. "They are quite positive this is the right one because no other one has the three seats.
"They can't be 100 percent sure until the DNA is analyzed, but they are 99 percent sure," she said.
Troy Kitch, a JPAC spokesman, shared Holm's cautious optimism. "We believe we have found the site," he said.
This month's search, which Holm said was the last one planned, came after several years of fruitless trips in Vietnam's remote jungles--some just meters from the recently discovered site.
Confirmation that the wreckage is that of the helicopter carrying Holm, Bibbs and Spc. Robin Yeakley, of South Bend, Ind., will not come until next year at the soonest, Kitch said. A recovery team, which can't do its work until after the upcoming rainy season, needs to visit the site in hopes of finding some remains, he said. Whatever is recovered would have to be analyzed.
"The bottom line is that until our forensic experts back here in the lab get ahold of it, we don't know," Kitch said.
Andrei Bibbs was 14 when his older brother left for Vietnam. "I looked up to him. He was my mentor. I really miss him," he said.
If remains are recovered, Bibbs said he would bury his brother at Burr Oaks Cemetery in Alsip.
There, in death, Wayne Bibbs would be reunited at last with his parents.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Blue Ghost Citations
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Monday, July 17, 2006
C Troop 7/17th Flag
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Tuesday, July 4, 2006
4th of July
I hope everyone has had a safe holiday. Let's hear from some of our pilots who attended the VHPA reunion in DC.
VHPA Reunion 4 July 2006
Photo submitted by John Shepardson. Taken July 3, 2006 at the VHPA Reunion in Washington, D.C. Back row: Woody McFarlin, John Shepardson, Terry Rippy, Jack Shanahan, Bob Smith, Bill Owen, Lewis Crosier, Tim Sprouse
Blue Ghosts at VPHA Reunion
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