CAPT JOHN ALLEN LA VOO CAPT JOHN ALLEN LA VOO

 

14 Nov 2002 John and I went through flight training together. He was an excellent fighter pilot and a truly wonderful husband and father. A gentleman in every aspect. He is missed. Semper Fi From a friend and fellow flight school student, Captain Doyle J. Borchers II, USN (Ret) 1315 Crestmont Drive Angwin, Ca 94508 padoyle1@aol.com

 

30 Jan 2006 My own research indicates a small error with the events surrounding the burial of Captain LaVoo and Captain Holt. I only submit this information, since, to my knowledge, their Arlington Cemetery internment is unique. In July 1992, a joint United States/Vietnamese team, led by the Joint Task Force-Joint Accounting, visited the suspected area of the crash to interview several informants with firsthand knowledge of the crash site. One of the informants turned over remains that were said to have been taken from the crash site. The team also examined some aircraft wreckage in the possession of the villagers. Another joint team re-interviewed one of the informants in August 1993, while another team, in January 1994, surveyed the crash site again and recommended it for excavation. Then, in May 1994, excavation team members recovered numerous crew-related items as well as human remains. A fifth team continued the excavation in June and July 1994 and recovered additional remains and crew-related artifacts. A sixth team completed the excavation in August 1994, recovering some further artifacts, but no remains. Anthropological analysis of the remains and other evidence by the United States Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, confirmed the following:      1. Some remains were identified as belonging to Captain La Voo;      2. Some remains were identified as belonging to Captain Holt; and      3. Some remains could not be identified as belonging to either man. Therefore, on July 19th of 1999, an unusual and unique ceremony was held in Arlington National Cemetery. With full military honors, the identifiable remains of Captain John Allan La Voo were interred. In a separate plot next to Captain La Voo, the unidentifiable remains of both crewmen were interred. The identifiable remains of Captain Robert Alan Holt were returned to his father, transported to Reading, and formally interred at Forest Glen Cemetery, where his mother was buried. From a hometown researcher for American Legion Post 62, Larry Goulet, SCPO, USN (Ret) honcho13@comcast.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall On 19 Sep 1968, Captain John La Voo, pilot, and Captain Robert A. Holt , RIO, participated in a strike on a storage site near Mai Xa Ha, about 13 miles north of the DMZ. On his second pass at the target, La Voo's F-4B (BuNo 152232) was hit by enemy fire and continued its dive until ground impact. Neither crewman ejected from the aircraft. Both men were classed as Killed in Action, Body not Recovered. After several excavation efforts at the crash site, human remains were recovered in September 1994. On 19 May 1999, the Defense Department announced that the remains had been positively identified as those of La Voo and Holt, and the two men were buried in Arlington National Cemetery on 19 July 1999.

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