Fallen Soldier Home At Last

[333MP]

Huntsville (AL) Times
March 18, 2005

Fallen Soldier Home At Last

Randy Ard was not forgotten after war death in Laos

By Shelby G. Spires, Times Military Writer

A fallen soldier was returned to his North Alabama family Thursday after a 34-year wait.

The remains of Chief Warrant Officer Randy Ard, an Army helicopter pilot shot down and killed in Laos in 1971, were flown to Huntsville International Airport aboard a commercial jet from Hawaii on Thursday. Ard will be buried Saturday in Marshall Memorial Gardens in Albertville after a private family ceremony.

Under a slate gray sky, a special motorcade transporting Ard's remains drove through Redstone Arsenal to recognize the helicopter pilot and his family's ultimate sacrifice.

Across Redstone, along the motorcade's path, people came out to show their respect, ignoring the cold, chilly winds and foreboding sky. At the end of the route, near Gate 10, more than 600 soldiers from the U.S. Army Munitions, Ordnance and Electronics School lined Patton Road. As the motorcade passed, they stood at attention to honor Ard.

"I'm glad for his family that he is home," said retired Army Command Sgt. Major Jack Hoffman, a Vietnam veteran who served 30 years in the Army and took part in Thursday's tribute. "It's also a tribute to our military today that 34 years after this man was shot down they have gone out and found his remains and returned them to his family for a proper burial."

On March 7, 1971, Ard and three passengers took off in an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter from Quang Tri, in what was then the northern portion of South Vietnam.

The helicopter was shot down by enemy soldiers in Laos just across the Vietnam-Laos border near the village of Ban Kahn, killing one man and injuring Ard. Ard sustained two broken legs and a shattered pelvis in the crash, but the other two passengers managed to drag him free of the wrecked Army helicopter.

According to military reports, Ard held the enemy soldiers back with a pistol for some time while the others made it to safety. Ard did not survive the ordeal. He was buried near the village.

The Army's Central Identification Lab, in Hawaii, made a positive identification of Ard's remains in December, and his family in Albertville was notified in January. The special lab handles all military remains returned from Asia.

The case of Randy Ard and the special attention given the return of his remains provided a boost to soldiers at Redstone Arsenal, several soldiers said Thursday. As conflicts rage across the world, soldiers today hope if they or family members fall to enemy fire, then America will go to the same lengths to identify them.

"This shows me, and I think American soldiers around the world, that we don't leave our people behind," said Staff Sgt. Devilla Lambert, who works on Redstone Arsenal.

Lambert said she has many friends and family members serving in the Middle East, so she takes a small comfort in knowing that their fate will be resolved if a tragedy were to happen.

At present, there are 1,842 open missing-in-action cases remaining from the Vietnam War. Hoffman said he would like to see the books closed on them all, "but I don't think we'll see all of the questions answered."

"It's just a comfort that the Army still is looking into what happened over there. A lot of people wanted to forget, but (the military) didn't forget," Hoffman said.

[333MP]

May he now rest in peace.

Welcome Home Chief Warrant Officer Randy, you may now rest in peace

[AngelBear]

Welcome home... Rest in Peace