Re: Holmes Comes Home

Date: May 18, 2004

"Remains of U.S. officer returned from Vietnam War

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The remains of U.S. Air Force Col. Lester Holmes of Plainfield, Iowa, missing in action since the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to the United States for burial, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Holmes' 0-1E "Bird Dog" air control aircraft was struck by ground fire and crashed on May 22, 1967, as he flew over Quang Binh Province in North Vietnam.

Military activity in the area prevented a search and rescue operation. During two investigations in 1991 and 1997, a joint team of U.S. and Vietnamese specialists interviewed villagers and surveyed three crash sites, but the searches were not successful.

In October 1997, Vietnamese officials turned over to the United States the results of a unilateral investigation in which they confirmed specifics of the aircraft's shooting down, though documented witnesses could not place the exact location of the crash.

Another joint team interviewed a retired Vietnamese general who recalled witnessing on radar the downing of the aircraft. He claimed to have visited the crash site but could offer only a general location.

A full-scale excavation of one of the crash sites first investigated in 1991 was carried out in July 1998, when aircraft debris and human remains were recovered. Fragments of an eyeglass lens found at the site were consistent with a prescription issued to Holmes.

The recovered remains and other evidence were identified by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which also led the joint field operations in Vietnam.

More than 88,000 Americans are missing in action from all conflicts, including 1,859 from the Vietnam War."