Your email address will not be published. They were the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, who was shot down over An Loc on May 11, 1972. . \ . We want the truth, we want to bring him home. The Army lab in Hawaii removed the BTB designation and, through a later discredited technique called morphological approximation, declared Michael Blassies remains as belonging to Unknown.. based on information from your browser. Members of Blassie's family could not be reached immediately for comment yesterday. Love your show. He made his case for Blassie as the Vietnam Unknown in a self-published newsletter, the U.S. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Jean Blassie, mother of 1st Lt. Michael Blassie, 1998. Vacant, it will likely remain. Privacy Policy & Terms of Service. But the military didnt tell anyone, officials later explained, because they said they couldnt be certain that it was he. Institute staff later reported their surprise when they opened the casket to retrieve the DNA and saw the crash-site artifacts Major Johnie Webb had enclosed with the remains back in 1984. In 1972, it was still under the control of the South Vietnamese military, along with a handful of American advisors, but it was surrounded by an invading North Vietnamese Army. After Blassie's family secured permission, the remains of Blassie were exhumed on May 14, 1998. Five months later, during a sweep of the area, a South Vietnamese Army patrol recovered a pelvis, an upper arm bone, and some ribs, as well as the remnants of a flight suit, a life raft, pieces of a parachute, and part of a USAF holster. Veteran Dispatch in 1994 and 1996 had made the claim that Blassie was the Unknown, drawing on Defense Department records. Even the thought that remains had been discovered near the crash site seemed preposterous. Trailing the procession were Vietnam veterans, comparatively disheveled with beards, long hair, and jungle fatigues. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. No one wanted to inter someone who might eventually be identified. There was an error deleting this problem. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. He had been shot down near An Loc, Vietnam, in 1972.. First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie, 24, was shot down over South Vietnam in 1972 and presumed dead. The Blassie family watches as their family member Michael, is unloaded from a C-130 Hercules cargo plane, July 10. In 1998 the Tomb of the Unknown was opened and the remains of the Vietnam Unknownidentified as X-26were removed. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4245/michael-joseph-blassie. Verify and try again. An Army band played mournfully while 21-gun salutes cracked in the distance. Parnell soon turned the remains over to the Saigon mortuary, along with the ID card and other items. They interviewed Parnell, by then a retired Colonel living in Florida. The discovery of personal effects at the crash site should have converted Michael Blassie from a Vietnam MIA to a KIA, closing his case. . Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story", Garland to face Congress amid ongoing special counsel investigations, Eli Lilly to cut insulin prices by 70%, cap monthly costs at $35, Pandemic-era food benefits end for millions of Americans as costs rise, Three officers shot, standoff follows in Kansas City, Mo., police say, Flying bug found at Walmart turns out to be rare Jurassic-era insect, CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat". The Medal of Honor bestowed upon him as the Vietnam Unknown was not transferred to Blassie after his remains were identified.[6]. The dedication alone attracted so many mourners, the line for viewing lasted ten days. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Five months after the shoot down an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) patrol inspected the crash site and retrieved partial skeletal remains, an ID card, dog tags, a wallet containing a family picture, part of a flight suit, and the remnant of a pistol holster. After the war, Railton advocated for a grave bearing the body of a single soldier to bring the impossibly large tragedy down to a human scale. In 1983, Congress and the Reagan administration, under pressure from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, agreed to move the remains of X-26 into the Tomb of the Unknown as a healing gesture for a country still traumatized by the Vietnam War. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. They said Michael had been killed. Michael Blassie received an appointment to the Air Force and fell in love with flying immediately. Thats when a Vietnam veteran and former Green Beret named Ted Sampley called Patricias mother out of the blue. Flying at a low altitude to drop napalm, he would have been propelled into the ground. My parents marriage did not survive. "Mike lived a hero, and he came home a hero," said Emanuel Cassimatis, the Air Force Academy liaison officer who recruited Blassie in 1965. After petitioning the United States Government for permission, his family had his body exhumed. The President also acted as next of kin to the unidentified Blassie by accepting the interment flag at the end of the ceremony. President Reagan presided over the funeral and presented the Medal of Honor to the Vietnam Unknown. They detailed that Michael Blassies remains had been recovered in Vietnam and that the person who recovered them was Chris Calhoon. But they had also brought back other evidence: an uninflated raft, a parachute, part of Michaels flight suit, and critically: his wallet with pictures of him and his family. They denied it. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. Producer Joe Rosenberg spoke with Robert Poole, author of On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery; Patricia Blassie; Bill Thomas, reporter for the Washington Post; Chris Calhoon, former Army Ranger; Vince Gonzales, reporter for CBS Denver, During the last segment of your podcast, Roman asked Joe if there were any other national monuments that had a guard like this. Updated: June 21, 2016 . . The ARVN turned the remains and the other crash site items over to Captain William C. Parnell, who was then serving as an operations officer at An Loc. They brought him home for burial in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. Arlington got to work building a special new crypt for the Tomb, one designed to hold the Vietnam War remains. Please reset your password. Baracus on "The A-Team," Mr. T was a member of the biggest team of them all -- the U.S "I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being Copyright 2023 Military.com. Prior to the identification of his remains, Blassie was the unknown service member from the Vietnam War buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. He died on May 11, 1972 at age 24. Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body. Calhoon assumed that Michaels remains would be returning to his family. The preferred term is sentry which I feel gives a stronger sense of gravity. A neighbor came over to get me, saying, Pat, you need to go inside. So I did and knew something was horribly wrong. Another perspective on this issue is that all soldiers are unknown. This is especially true for people like me that have no familial association with the military. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). From a computer genius to a popular sitcom star, talented women have made their mark in the U.S. military. Whatever the case, other aircraft were dispatched to the area to provide cover for an Army chopper rescue team, all for naught. DNA tests determined that the remains in the tomb were those of Blassie. She attended Wellston High School but left after three years to work as a nurses aide at DePaul Hospital. Veteran Dispatch. The Blassie family wasnt in attendance. display: block; The Armed Forces have adopted the latest advances in fingerprint and dental identification, and forensic anthropology and radiology. The last day we took him to the airport, Michael looked back at us and waved. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Its like the reverse of this 99pi story! No one doubted his commitment to the cause of POW/MIAs. Michael, after all, was her first born. They married in 1947 and had five children. #inline-recirc-item--id-91b39784-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d, #right-rail-recirc-item--id-91b39784-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d { The American memorial is especially beautiful. Some evidence suggests that the remains ceremonially laid to rest by President Reagan 14 years ago belong to 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, a decorated flier still officially listed as missing in . Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. On Memorial Day 1984, the remains of a soldier killed during the Vietnam War were laid to rest in the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington National Cemetery. Mourners included military personnel, veterans and civilians. Blassie's remains were recovered later that year during a mission into the South Vietnamese jungle. . Improvements in evacuation, recordkeeping, and forensic science meant that almost all US remains recovered from combat zones were identified. ", 1998 The Associated Press. He was constantly researching, protesting, and pressuring the Pentagon to resolve open cases. But for whatever reason, the first bad decision was not telling the family. The guard was sent back and a different guard took over. On May 28, 1984, a Third Army Old Guard horse-drawn caisson moved slowly along Constitution Avenue. DNA samples were taken from Michaels mother Jean and his sister Judy and tested against the remains. We've created a quiz to test your ability to recognize military aircraft. That was enough for Captain Patricia Blassie. [3][4] A CBS News report in January 1998 subsequently made the same claim. Michael Blassie was therefore ruled out as a possible match. "X-26" remained in Arlington with his unknown comrades, watched by the solemn Old Guard, until 1998, when new questions about Blassie's whereabouts surfaced. In: Spitz, W.U. The city of An Loc was totally leveled it looked like Hiroshima, says Chris Calhoon who was stationed there as an Army Ranger. On July 11, 1998, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was buried with full military honors in Jefferson National Cemetery, Missouri, near his hometown, in the same cemetery as his father. Instead, they were simply designated as BTB believed to be Michael Blassie. He subsequently qualified as an A-37 Dragonfly pilot and served as a member of the 8th Special Operations Squadron, deployed to Southeast Asia. The Unknown Soldier can be about more than a dwindling subclass of soldiers that disappeared without record. If they had, they might have hung up on him. He knew morphological approximation was a flawed identification technique, and he suspected that someday, X-26 might be identified, especially given the personal effects and documents associated with the bone fragments. Michael Blassie in his Air Force Academy cadet uniform. Id left school early that day, and I looked out the window when I heard a car door slam. There is nothing but reverence, respect and deep sorrow among visitors. Michael flew as an Air Commando, probably running covert missions into Laos and Cambodia, in addition to his official duties as forward air controller and counterinsurgency operations pilot in South Vietnam. There they would rest for eight years in a file labeled X-26 until their date with destiny arrived. In 1984, on Memorial Day, Blassie's remains - four ribs, pelvis and the upper part of an arm - were buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington. They were a match and Michael Blassies remains were returned to his family. Dubbed the "super-tweet . And so it would have remained if a rookie CBS reporter named Vince Gonzalez hadnt run across Sampleys article about Blassie on the Internet. Calhoon assumed that Michaels remains would be returning to his family,but that wasnt the case. This dental device was sold to fix patients' jaws. AFDIL has used DNA analysis to identify the remains of at least 150 military personnel from Vietnam, Korea, and World War 2, and assisted in the identification of victims from high profile disasters, both natural and man-made. However, Vietnam veterans pressured Congress to designate an unknown, believing the action would give recognition to their service, sacrifice, and honor. Post-Dispatch file photo, Workers cover the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on May 13, 1998, in anticipation of the exhumation of the remains of the Vietnam unknown. I missed the names of the two announcers who discussed the Arlington Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument and chuckled together over some of the changing of the guard ceremony and sentry duties. In honor of the Air Force's birthday, we've put together this Air Force history quiz. DNA identification had yet to advance to its current state when Blassie's remains were repatriated, and he lay in the Tomb of the Unknowns up to 1998, with visitors paying respects but unaware of his identity. We believe Michael would have been proud of how we pulled together to bring him home. That's where he fell in love with flying, Pat Blassie said. They were just looking out for him until he could go home. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses reelection bid With DNA identification being used and hearing that there are no unknowns from Vietnam and that they are working currently on unknowns from the Korean war, I though, How wonderful that there will never again be an unknown soldier, everyone will be eventually brought home. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Tony. Captain Parnell wrapped the remains, and the other items found at the crash site, in plastic and held them overnight. Forensic anthropologists took the aged and damaged samples of bone for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing. The Blassies didnt know Sampley. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. . Following the removal of Blassie's remains from the Tomb of the Unknowns, the slab marking "Vietnam" over the crypt that once held his remains was replaced with one that read "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen",[7] as it was decided that the Vietnam crypt would remain a vacant cenotaph. Love each and every podcast . So were dozens of Michaels old friends, classmates, and comrades in arms, along with thousands of others, including Vietnam veterans, who came to commemorate the return of a lost brother. Two weeks later, Michael Blassie was buried for good near the family's home . Whatever was known about the remains of the Vietnam Unknown had never been revealed. United States Air Force Vietnam Veteran. Webb refused. Many thanks for such a great show, this episode and all the others~ #HonorVeterans #VetLegacies. That just couldnt be. Patricia Blassie, today a colonel with the Air Force Reserve who lives in Georgia, told her family of a phone call she had received in 1994 from a former Army Green Beret. Through these efforts, they reviewed evidence that suggested the Vietnam War Unknown was likely Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, a pilot who had been shot down in 1972. In 1976, they were shipped to Hawaii to be analyzed by the Armys Central Identification Laboratory (CIL-HI). When it came to tracking MIAs, Sampley was shrewd and tireless. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Members of the Air Force honor guard carry the casket containing the remains of Lt. Michael Blassie into a hearse at Scott Air Force Base on Friday, July 10, 1998. But Mrs. Blassie also had a hunch. And he had only been able to find one missing plane that fully matched the planes description: Michael Blassies. Please enter valid email address to continue. It turns out that, unlike previous wars, the Vietnam War didnt produce many Unknowns. Blassies was A positive. She permitted Vince Gonzalez to access a trove of new documents through the Freedom of Information Act pertaining to the selection and entombment of the Vietnam Unknowns remains. Photo by Erik M. Lunsford elunsford@post-dispatch.com Jean Blassie lost. We have set your language to Last chance! The DNA testing resulted in a perfect match with the Blassies. Jean Blassie, center, mother of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie, and his sister Patricia, right, now an Air Force colonel, talk with reporters at Arlington National Cemetery on May 14,. ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. Weve updated the security on the site. Michael Joseph Blassie, the oldest of five children of a St. Louis meat cutter, entered the Air Force Academy in 1966 and received his officer's commission in June 1970. That they all made the ultimate sacrifice for me. 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