Bone Pieces Of No Use In MIA Case

TheDay - New London, CT, USA

By Jennifer Grogan Published on 12/18/2008

Waterford - The pieces of human bone found during the excavation of Army Capt. Arnold E. Holm Jr.'s crash site in Vietnam cannot be identified because they are badly burned.

Holm, a native of Waterford, had been flying reconnaissance in a small scout helicopter in central Vietnam in 1972.

Enemy fire downed the helicopter. Holm and his crewmen, Pfc. Wayne Bibbs of Illinois and Spc. Robin Yeakley of Indiana, were never found.

After the site excavation this summer, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command said the amount of recovered remains was small, making it difficult to extract DNA.

JPAC recently determined that the tests were “inconclusive” because the heat from the plane crash, and explosion, destroyed the DNA.

The family was recently informed of the test results.

”We've been on this rollercoaster for years and it's still going,” Holm's sister, Margaret Brewster, who lives in Cromwell, said Wednesday.

JPAC had said that it would not make sense to return to the site again if the tests were inconclusive.

But Brewster said the family was told that JPAC would interview villagers who may have information about the crash.

”I am down, but the fact that they're willing to continue, that they're not just closing the case, gives me some hope,” Brewster said. “They're going to interview people, but I don't know what will happen from there. Right now it's really up in the air.”

The crash site was discovered in July 2006 after several failed search attempts. Preparations for excavating began June 11, 36 years to the day since Holm was killed.

The JPAC team returned stateside in late July. Materials from the site were sent to the Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii for analysis.

Holm was a prominent athlete at Waterford High School before enlisting in the Army in 1962 after graduation.

”I share the disappointment of so many who had hoped for better news,” U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said in a statement.

Courtney, who worked with JPAC on the recovery, plans to meet with the command to discuss the next steps.

J.GROGAN@THEDAY.COM