Yeakley, Robin Ray
Army Specialist 4
Robin Ray Yeakley, age 23, from South Bend, Indiana, St. Joseph county.
Service era: Vietnam
Date of death: Sunday, June 11, 1972
Death details: Army Capt. Arnold E. Holm Jr. of Waterford, Conn.; Spc. Robin R. Yeakley of South Bend, Ind.; and Pfc. Wayne Bibbs of Chicago, were buried as a group, in a single casket representing the entire crew, on Nov. 9, 2011 in Arlington National Cemetery. On June 11, 1972, Holm was the pilot of an OH-6A Cayuse helicopter flying a reconnaissance mission in Thua Thien-Hue Province, South Vietnam. Also on board were his observer, Yeakley, and his door gunner, Bibbs. The aircraft made a second pass over a ridge, where enemy bunkers had been sighted, exploded and crashed, exploding again upon impact. Crews of other U.S. aircraft, involved in the mission, reported receiving enemy ground fire as they overflew the crash site looking for survivors. On March 16, 2011, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Specialist 4 Robin Ray Yeakley, missing from the Vietnam War. Specialist 4 Yeakley joined the U.S. Army from Indiana and was a member of Troop F, 8th Cavalry Regiment. On June 11, 1972, he was the observer aboard an OH-6A Cayuse helicopter on a reconnaissance mission over Thua Thien-Hue Provence, Vietnam. Just after passing over a ridge in the target area, the OH-6A crashed and exploded, and SP4 Yeakley was killed. Enemy presence in the area prevented immediate recovery efforts for his remains. Between 1993 and 2008, joint U.S./Vietnamese search teams conducted investigations that located the OH-6A’s crash site. Human remains were recovered from the site and modern forensic techniques were able to identify SP4 Yeakley among the remains recovered.
Cemetery: Arlington National
Source: National Archives