Holmes, Lester Evan
Air Force Colonel

Lester Evan Holmes from Plainfield, Iowa, Bremer county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: May 22, 1967
Death details: On June 18, 2003, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA, now DPAA) identified the remains of Colonel Lester Evan Holmes, missing from the Vietnam War.

Colonel Holmes, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Iowa, served with 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron. On May 22, 1967, he served as a crewmember on board an O-1G Bird Dog (serial number 51-12102) on a direct air support mission over Quang Binh Province in North Vietnam. During the mission, the Bird Dog was shot down and Col Holmes was killed. Hostile presence in the area inhibited search efforts after the crash. In 1999, a joint U.S./Vietnamese investigative team located the crash site of the Bird Dog and recovered remains which were later identified as those of Col Holmes.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency