HOLMAN, GERALD ALLAN Name: Gerald Allan Holman Rank/Branch: O2/US Navy Unit: Carrier Air Early Warning Squadron 12, Detachment 42, USS FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT Date of Birth: 10 October 1939 Home City of Record: Northville MI Date of Loss: 14 December 1966 Country of Loss: South Vietnam/Over Water Loss Coordinates: (none) Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered Category: 5 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: E1B Refno: 0548 Other Personnel In Incident: Edwin Koenig; Richard Mowrey (missing); 2 other crewmen who were rescued. Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998. REMARKS: AC DITCH - 2 SURV RESC, NT SUBJ - J SYNOPSIS: The USS FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT was to end its second tour of Vietnam to leave the battle area by Christmas, 1966. On board was the carrier's early warning squadron of four aircraft, for which LTJG Gerald A. Holman was administrative officer. On December 14, Holman was launched from the carrier as the pilot of an E1B propeller-driven warning plane carrying a crew of five. The "Willie Fudd" departed on a routine mission, when one of the engines failed. Holman was forced to ditch into the South China Sea. Two of the crewmembers survived the crash and were subsequently rescued. Holman, LTCDR Edwin L. Koenig, and LTJG Richard L. Mowrey were not found. The three were listed as Killed/Body Not Recovered. The accident was not battle related. The crewmen of the Willie Fudd are listed with honor among the missing because no remains were found. Their cases seem quite clear. For others who are listed missing, resolution is not as simple. Many were known to have survived their loss incident. Quite a few were in radio contact with search teams and describing an advancing enemy. Some were photographed or recorded in captivity. Others simply vanished without a trace. Reports continue to mount that we abandoned hundreds of Americans to the enemy when we left Southeast Asia. While the Willie Fudd's crew may not be among them, one can imagine their proud willingness to fly one more mission to help secure their rescue. |
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