News-Info-Alerts

Re: Items in Jungle Give Searchers Hope

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: April 26, 2003

"Items in jungle give search team hope
Congressman Rob Simmons and others may link material they discovered to missing men.

By RAY HACKETT Norwich Bulletin; Rhackett@norwichbulletin.com

U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons is on a mission to Vietnam to recover the remains of Army Capt. Arnold Holm of Waterford, who is missing in action.

HUE, Vietnam -- An American-made watch, jungle boots, a pilot pen, electrical parts and other materials that one would associate with pilots were discovered Friday. They were in the area where an investigating team is searching for evidence of the downed helicopter flown by Waterford native Army Capt. Arnold Holm.

"We have not been able to make a positive identification of the site, but we seem to be frustratingly close," U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, said Friday night in a telephone interview with the Bulletin. "At this point, we cannot determine if this is the site, that's why we're being very cautious. We don't want to raise anyone's expectations. But my confidence is riding higher."

Simmons spent Friday with members of the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting in the jungles of Vietnam about 10 miles south of Hue in Thua Thien province, the area where Holm and his two crewmen, Wayne Bibbs and Robin Yeakley, were shot down June 11, 1972.

Two previous attempts at determining the exact location of the crash failed to yield any evidence. New information gathered over the past year, however, has given renewed hopes of locating the site.

"We started at the new position and we located much of these items, I would say about 200 to 400 meters from that site," Simmons said. "It's encouraging enough that they decided to increase the number of woodcutters from a dozen to about 50 and they should be on site within the next 48 hours."

As encouraging as the finds may be, officials with the team said it is premature to say with any certainty how significant they are. Each of the items will be transported back to the laboratories in Hawaii for further analysis. If these and any additional finds indicate a strong presumption that this could be the crash site, an excavation will be scheduled in the hopes of recovering the remains.

"It would be unbelievably fortunate, and by the grace of God, they will find him this time," said Margarete Holm, Arnold Holm's widow, from her home in Pennsylvania. "But I do not want to leave myself open to extreme expectations, then experience an extreme let down when they don't find him this time. But I know, they will find him and I believe that this is the reason the JTF-FA is being very cautious about committing themselves."

Friday was the second day of a search that will continue for about 30 days. It is unclear when the analysis of the materials found at the site will be completed and a decision rendered on whether an excavation of the site will be scheduled.

Simmons described the search area as extreme dense, double and tripled canopies jungle that in some spots searchers had to crawl on hands and feet.

"It was incredibly hot, you needed to take water every 15 minutes," he said. "There are leeches and mosquitoes. This is a very tough, difficult business."

Jennifer Cooper, Holm's daughter who now lives in Florida with two children of her own, said she would be surprised if a positive identification of the site could be determined in 30 days given the difficult terrain. She said she hopes every resource necessary will be used to make the search a success.

"Ultimately, I will never be satisfied until we have him back," she said Friday. "My mind may understand the reality of his death, but my heart will never accept it without proof. Without proof, I will always wonder and hope. I can't help but hope."

Lt. Col. Steve Hawley, commander of the JTF-FA Detachment based in Hanoi, called Mrs. Holm Friday night after the team returned from the site to brief her on the progress.

"I told her we were working for her," he said, "and all the others who are still unaccounted for. We can't state for certain what we found today, but we're going to keep at it, we're not giving up on him."

Simmons, who was accompanied on the trip by wife Heidi, wraps up his six-day visit to Vietnam today. He will return to the United States on Sunday.

"It's been an amazing trip," he said Friday. "I came over here with Capt. Holm on the forefront of my mine. What I leave with is the thought of hundreds of others still missing and American and Vietnamese working together, putting their own lives on the line, to recover their remains. The U.S. government and the Defense Department is committed to this effort and I am committed to giving them all my support in Congress today, tomorrow and into the future. I think this effort can bridge the past and the future."

©2003 Norwich Bulletin."