Holmes, David Hugh
Air Force Lieutenant colonel

David Hugh Holmes, age 27, from Belmont, Massachusetts, Middlesex county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: March 15, 1966

Spouse: Marilyn (Seiler) Holmes (married July 7, 1962). She was notified by letter in 1978 that he was presumed dead.

Children: Dennis, 2; Kelly, 3.

Parent: Albert Holmes
Death details: Captain David Hugh Holmes entered the U.S. Air Force from Massachusetts and served with the 22nd Tactical Air Support Squadron. On March 15, 1966, he was the pilot and sole occupant of an O-1E Bird Dog (tail number 56-2530, call sign “Hounddog 54”) when it took off from the Khe Sanh Special Forces camp on a forward air controller (FAC) mission over Laos. While in the mission area, his aircraft was hit by enemy ground fire and crashed in the vicinity of (GC) XD 214 536. A ground search team reached the crash site on the following day, but Capt Holmes’ remains were not found. He remains unaccounted-for. While carried in the status of missing in action, the U.S. Air Force promoted Capt Holmes to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col). Today, Lieutenant Colonel Holmes is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Billings Gazette (1978)