David Hugh Holmes

  Missing In Action    

SUMMARY

Name: David Hugh Holmes Rank/Branch: O3/US Air Force (Promoted to O5 while in Missing status.) Date of Birth: 26 March 1938 Home City of Record: Belmont MA (family in Billings MT) Date of Loss: 15 March 1966 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 164548N 1060821E (XD214536) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: O1E Cessna Other Personnel in Incident: John Michel Nash; Glenn McElroy (both missing on OV-1)

SYNOPSIS

SYNOPSIS: Captain David Holmes was flying FAC (Forward Air Control) on an O1E "Bird Dog" aircraft in Laos on March 15, 1966.  His radio call sign was "Hound Dog 54" on this "Tiger Hound" operation. Holmes was flying over a large concentration of NVA troops maintaining a truck park along the Ho Chi Minh Trail when his plane was struck by anti-aircraft fire from at least one of the 6 gun emplacements and crashed into the foliage on the east side of the Se Nam Kok River valley about 300 meters from the village of Ban Keng Khan Kao. Another O1E, call sign "Hound Dog 50" was dispatched immediately and observed Holmes, apparently unconscious, sitting in the cockpit of his plane.  At this time (2:35 p.m.), Hound Dog 50 also observed the OV-1 Mohawk flown by Michel Nash and Glenn McElroy enter the line of enemy fire on the west side of the valley.  The OV-1 was shot down with Nash and McElroy aboard. Because of the plane losses and the discovery of the troops and gun emplacements, F-4's (call sign Oxwood 95) and A1E Skyraiders were called in and the ensuing battle raged for 4-5 hours that afternoon in the operational area known as "ECHO". On March 16, a search and rescue team flew to the crash site of David Holmes' O1E and found the plane empty. Their report states that he was either removed from the plane or left under his own power.  URC-10 emergency radio signals were heard four times in the next 6 days, but it was thought that the signals were initiated by the enemy since voice contact was never made. Holmes, Nash and McElroy all had URC-10 radios. Just over 20 years from the day the two aircraft went down, U.S. teams had the oppor- tunity to examine and excavate the crash site of Nash and McElroy's OV1A.  There was no shred of evidence that anyone died in the aircraft.  No human remains or bone fragments were found. In 1973, 591 Americans were released from prisons in Vietnam.  Holmes, Nash and McElroy were not among them, nor were nearly 2500 other Americans who went missing in Southeast Asia.  Of this 2500, nearly 600 are missing in Laos.  No prisoners held in Laos were released in 1973, nor has there ever been any agreement reached which would free them. Were there not thousands of reports indicating hundreds of Americans are still held captive in Southeast Asia, America might be able to close this chapter of the Vietnam war.  But if there is even ONE American prisoner, we cannot forget.  We must bring them home. NOTE: The 20th Aviation Detachment existed until December 1966, at which time it was reassigned as the 131st Aviation Company, 223rd Aviation Battalion (Combat Support). The 131st Aviation Company had been assigned to I Corps Aviation Battalion since June 1966, when it arrived in Vietnam.  In August 1967, the 131st Aviation Company was reassigned to the 212th Aviation Battalion where it remained until July 1971, whereupon it transferred out of Vietnam. There were a large number of pilots lost from this unit, including Thaddeus E. Williams and James P. Schimberg (January 9, 1966); John M. Nash and Glenn D. McElroy (March 15, 1966); James W. Gates and John W. Lafayette (April 6, 1966); Robert G. Nopp and Marshall Kipina (July 14, 1966); Jimmy M. Brasher and Robert E. Pittman (September 28, 1966); James M. Johnstone and James L. Whited (November 19, 1966); Larry F. Lucas (December 20, 1966); and Jack W. Brunson and Clinton A. Musil (May 31, 1971). Missing OV1 aircraft crew from the 20th/131st represent well over half of those lost on OV1 aircraft during the war. U.S. Army records list both Nopp and Kipina as part of the "131st Aviation Company, 14th Aviation Battalion", yet according to "Order of Battle" by Shelby Stanton, a widely recognized military source, this company was never assigned to the 14th Avn. Battalion. The 131st was known as "Nighthawks", and was a surveillance aircraft company.