Ray Hackett: Hope Dwindles For Recovery Of Vietnam Hero

Norwich Bulletin - Norwich, CT, USA

Site explored, but no answers were uncovered

By RAY HACKETT
Norwich Bulletin
Posted Mar 07, 2009 @ 10:53 PM

Last month, an investigative team from the Joint Personnel and Accounting Command in Hawaii returned to the northern provinces of Vietnam to the area where Waterford native, Army Capt. Arnold “Dusty” Holm’s, helicopter crashed in June 1972.

The purpose of the trip was to re-interview villagers in the area in the hopes that additional information regarding the crash might be recovered. It is likely the last hope in the effort to bring Dusty home.

I haven’t heard anything yet as to whether the effort was successful.

The Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office hosts regular meetings with family members of missing servicemen to brief them on the ongoing efforts to recover their loved ones. Dusty’s widow, Margarete, will attend such a meeting this month, when she will likely get an update on this latest effort.

But it’s not easy to feel optimistic.

Some evidence

There was optimism last summer, a reason for hope, when command recovery teams began the excavation of the crash site. They spent 30 days at the site, excavating approximately 444 square meters at an average depth of 17 centimeters. They found two dog tags, both belonging to SP4 Robin Yeakley, who along with PFC Wayne Bibbs were onboard the helicopter Dusty was flying.

Also uncovered were what appears to be life support clothing fragments, hardware from the craft, fabric, vest fragments and a survival kit container lid.

The big find, however, were several small, human bone fragments. Unfortunately, those bone fragments did not yield any DNA, or sufficient DNA, that could be used for positive identification.
The recovery leader closed the site and has recommended no further excavation there.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, met with officials from the personnel office in January, at which time they told him an investigative team would be returning to the area in early February to re-interview villagers. The hope is that maybe someone in the villages remembers the bodies being taken from the helicopter and buried somewhere else. It’s a longshot mostly because of reports from eyewitnesses to the crash — others involved in the battle at the time.

Multiple explosions

According to those reports, Holm’s helicopter was hit by enemy ground fire as it passed over the ridge at an altitude of about 25 feet. The aircraft exploded and started to burn. Smoke was coming from the craft and white phosphorous grenades onboard began exploding. Upon impact, the helicopter exploded again and was engulfed in flames. No one was seen exiting the craft and its emergency radio beepers were never activated.

The case will be kept open as long as family members want it. But the reality is, unless some new evidence is found, there’s little else that can be done.

There are more than 1,800 still unaccounted for from the war in Southeast Asia. Twenty-seven of them, including Dusty, are from Connecticut. It’s estimated that approximately 600 of the missing will never be recovered for a variety of reasons.

That includes Air Force Lt. Peter Hesford of Mystic, shot down over Laos on March 21, 1968. I talked with his brother several years ago. Hetold me the family, years earlier, requested that no further efforts be made to search for his remains. They had come to terms with his loss, and it was time for them to move on.

Ray Hackett is the Norwich Bulletin’s Community Conversations Editor and has covered Connecticut politics for more than 20 years. He can be reached at 860-425-4225 or rhackett@norwichbulletin.com

NC NOTE: The Joint Personnel Command as referred to in the first paragraph is actually called the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and is located at Hickam AFB, HI.