35-year war widow keeps hope alive for remains
By BRAD RHEN
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News
Margaret Holm keeps her husbandÕs medals and a charcoal rubbing of his name from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the living-room wall of her North Cornwall Township home. TheyÕre among a handful of items she has to remember him by.
Thirty-five years ago today Ñ June 11, 1972 Ñ her husband, Army Capt. Arnold E. Holm, and his helicopter crew were shot down in Vietnam.
There was never a funeral, and no tombstone marks his grave. In fact, there is no grave because his remains were never recovered.
But now, 35 years later, Margaret Holm thinks she is close to bringing her husband home.
Last July, officials from the the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command told Holm they believed they had located the site where her husbandÕs helicopter crashed. Recovery teams had been searching the dense jungle for years, and the discovery marked a possible breakthrough in the effort to recover the remains and bring them home.
ÒThat was a very fortunate find because they had run out of clues where to look, and they decided to go back to the beginning, and they realized that they never searched the original site,Ó Holm said. ÒThey never found the site where they had originally thought it was, and it was actually there.Ó
Because the list of search sites is compiled early in the year, Holm said the excavation of her husbandÕs crash site will have to wait until at least next year.
ÒThey hoped to get it on the list for excavation this year, but that would mean they would have to bump somebody else, and thatÕs not fair,Ó Holm said. ÒYou canÕt do that.Ó
She said she is confident that searchers will finally make it to the crash site sometime in 2008.
Margaret, who was born and raised in Germany, met her husband when he was stationed there. The couple moved back to the United States and were married in New London, Conn., in 1966.
Arnold Holm, originally from Waterford, Conn., crashed while on a reconnaissance mission near VietnamÕs border with Laos. He and his two crewmen, Spc. Robin Yeakley of South Bend, Ind., and Pfc. Wayne Bibbs of Blue Island, Ill., were never found.
Following her husbandÕs death, Holm lived in Connecticut until her daughter, Jennifer, graduated from Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle and convinced her to move to the area. Jennifer, who was 4 when her father died, has since moved to Florida, but Margaret decided to stay in Pennsylvania.
Holm said her husband had a promising future.
ÒHe was one of the most decorated soldiers from Connecticut. He was a perfectionist, and he was definitely going places,Ó she said.
According to http://www.virtualwall.org, Holm and his crew were members of F Troop, 8th Cavalry Regiment. Holm; Bibbs, the helicopterÕs gunner; and Yeakley, an observer, were aboard an OH-6A observation helicopter flying from Camp Eagle to the northern provinces of South Vietnam on a visual reconnaissance mission the day they were shot down, according to the Web site.
Their mission was to search for signs of the enemy around two landing zones. During the mission, Holm reported that he saw enemy living quarters, bunkers and numerous trails. On their second pass over a ridge Ñ they were only about 25 feet off the ground Ñ the aircraft exploded and burned, according to the Web site. It was reported that smoke and white phosphorous grenades began exploding inside the aircraft before it crashed. After the aircraft struck the ground, there was another explosion.
Other aircraft in the area received heavy anti-aircraft fire. No emergency radio beepers were detected when the copter went down. No ground search was made for survivors or remains of the aircraft because of hostile fire in the area, according to the Web site.
When searchers finally found the scene of the crash last year, they recovered a helmet, a log-book holder from a scout helicopter like Arnold HolmÕs and parts of a machine gun. But the most important piece of evidence at the site was a third seat. Margaret Holm said her husband flew a two-seat helicopter and had installed a third seat to hold a gunner or additional ammunition.
The crash site is 25 to 30 miles southwest of Hue and covers 60 to 80 meters. Military officials told Margaret the recovery effort will take at least 30 days. If any remains are found, they will be taken to a lab in Hawaii, where DNA tests will be used to determine their identity.
Holm attended a briefing at the Pentagon in the fall, when she and others who have loved ones missing in action received updates on the search for their remains. During her visit, she met Marines Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Following the briefing, there was a ceremony that included a fly-over of Blackhawk helicopters in the Òmissing manÓ formation.
ÒI thought that was really nice,Ó Holm said of the ceremony. ÒIt was really touching.Ó
Holm said she stays in regular contact with the military and, once a year, the military conducts an update for families of service members missing in action. Unfortunately, Holm said, she will not be able to attend this yearÕs update.
Today, on the anniversary of her husbandÕs death, Holm said she is bothered by how young lives Ñ not just her husbandÕs Ñ are destroyed by war.
ÒEven with the war now, thereÕs such a waste of young lives, of talent,Ó she said. ÒAnd not only the ones that are killed, but also the ones that are maimed for life. ItÕs so horrible to take a 20-year-old or whatever, and they go there all gung-ho and full of patriotism, and then reality hits, and itÕs not quite what you imagine. ItÕs different when the bullets start flying.Ó
If her husbandÕs remains are found, Holm said, a memorial service will be held in Connecticut and a funeral will be planned at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Holm said sheÕs looking forward to the day when her husband finally comes home.
ÒI think they all deserve to come home,Ó she said. ÒHow much more can you give than your life?Ó