", 1998 The Associated Press. A 1970 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Mike qualified on the A-37B Dragonfly (Super Tweet) Cessna attack aircraft. During a memorial service Friday evening at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, Blassie was remembered as a courageous young man who fought for peace. Blassie was then listed as "killed in action, no body recoverd." Its conceivable that they could soon use the same techniques on the unknown serviceman inside the tomb. Whatever was known about the remains of the Vietnam Unknown had never been revealed. 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. Tonight: Occasional mixed rain and snow. 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. One of Calhoons duties, in the midst of all this chaos, was to call in airstrikes. Four low-flying F-15s flew overhead, with one pulling out of formation in a missing man salute. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. The recruiters said if I joined the Air Force, Id travel, get excellent training,and an education. The Flag: Revd David Railton MC and the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, Excerpts and links to latest episodes and articles, Periodic, exclusive updates on 99PI goings-on. For the past year, Pat Blassie crusaded for the disinterment, convinced that recent evidence - including Blassie's wallet and dog tags found near the crash site - suggested the remains were those of her brother. Today, there is no body representing Vietnam at the tomb of the unknowns. Test your knowledge! . . Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. No one wanted to inter someone who might eventually be identified. After 26 years, the family of Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, buried the pilot Saturday, ending a painful mystery that began in 1972. No other MIA or KIA even remotely near the An Lc location would have possessed a life raft, parachute, and pistol holster. And you didnt mention the shoes the specially designed shoes the sentries wear are pretty cool. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. Please enter valid email address to continue. i . After nearly two decades of uncertainty, the family of Blassie can finally reveal the empty crypt in which the men and women who served in Vietnam were buried, as well as the flag that was once flown over it. } He also added the critical notation: BTB [Believed to Be] Lt. Blassie, Michael Joseph.. Remains identification bordered on guesswork. The next morning, he handed the package to a helicopter crew, which delivered it to the Saigon Mortuary. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. An Army caisson carried his casket from the Capitol to the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 28, 1984. But not all remains can be identified with such methods. 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. As far as she was concerned, the case was closed. That just couldnt be. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. After the Civil War, the Union buried 2,111 soldiers in a mass grave in Arlington that they purposely built in the middle of Robert E. Lees rose garden. Search above to list available cemeteries. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. Check out member benefits and perks . The dedication alone attracted so many mourners, the line for viewing lasted ten days. Unidentified remains from that war had been analyzed over a decade and a half. After graduating from St. Louis University High School he entered the United States Air Force Academy, graduating in 1970. I thought this is the best example of internet conspiracy garbage Ive seen to date, says Vince Gonzales, a reporter for CBS Denver who came across the story three years later in 1997. It can represent all soldiers. And they never learned the truth: that their son Michaels remains were discovered some five months after his death. Photo by Erik M. Lunsford elunsford@post-dispatch.com. But it doesnt make it right that we interred a known soldier, she added. The Blassie family watches as their family member Michael, is unloaded from a C-130 Hercules cargo plane, July 10. I think that barring a complete abolition of war, this is a small consolation. They were completely cut off from the rest of the world. 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. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. Blassie dropped in low for a bombing run on attacking forces when enemy anti-aircraft fire boomed from the ground. On March 21, 1984, Webb reluctantly signed. Jean Frances Adrian grew up in Jennings. Im curious how the remains werent identifiable as Michael Blassie if he was the only remaining unidentified serviceman from the war. 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. Another perspective on this issue is that all soldiers are unknown. Secretary of Defense William Cohen was on hand for the somber burial. The goal was to schedule the ceremony before Election Day 1984, which is why Memorial Day, rather than Veterans Day, was selected. The guard was sent back and a different guard took over. GREAT NEWS! memorial page for 1LT Michael Joseph Blassie (4 Apr 1948-11 May 1972), Find a Grave Memorial ID 4245, citing Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Lemay . Michael Blassie had become a cold statistic of war. If they had, they might have hung up on him. Today he comes home.". A simple process of elimination made clear that the remains had to be a small fixed-wing pilot like Michael. Many thanks for such a great show, this episode and all the others~ He must have been killed instantly since he did not transmit a distress call of any kind. In addition, a single strand of hair found in the flight suit yielded an estimated blood type O negative. Learn more about managing a memorial . Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. That is, he fell outside the approximated ranges on both counts. I talked with many of them and they would say, But this is the one honor we received, and the Blassie family is disrupting that honor. I would reply, All the Vietnam Unknowns should be accounted for by the government. I would remind them of that, and Id tell them our family story. [5] On June 30, 1998, the Defense Department announced that the Vietnam Unknown had been identified. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. A decade later, however, questions began to arise about the identity of this unknown soldier. Try again later. Patricia was proud also when he headed off to Vietnam six years later. Jean Blassie holds a photo of her son Michael Blassie while seated in the living room of her apartment in Florissant, on May 2, 1998. A helicopter team tried to get to the crash site, but due to heavy enemy fire, they had to leave after just a few minutes empty-handed. DNA testing was in its infancy in 1972. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, as of this writing, there are still 1,584 US service members unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. No one knows how many remains from Vietnam and elsewhere were buried in the wrong graves because of these flawed identification procedures. 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. We wanted the entire truth, but they couldnt tell us that., The official designation was KIABNRKilled in Action, Body not Recovered., My father served in Normandy during World War II and he never got over losing Michael, Patricia recalls. After petitioning the United States Government for permission, his family had his body exhumed. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. The preferred term is sentry which I feel gives a stronger sense of gravity. She and her four children met to try to figure out what to do. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. [3][4] A CBS News report in January 1998 subsequently made the same claim. On May 11, Communist forces unleashed an all-out assault to take An Lc. "He's still serving today because he now represents those that need to come home," she said. In order for the X-26 remains to be interred in the Tomb of the Unknown, Webb had to sign a statement confirming that they would never be identified. The nature of combat in Vietnam and advances in forensic medicine had made it difficult for officials to bury a Vietnam unknown. That crypt would remain empty for over a decade. After his remains were identified by DNA testing in 1998, they were reburied at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis County, Missouri. Photo by Erik M. Lunsford elunsford@post-dispatch.com Jean Blassie lost. These sources reinforced the probability that Michael Blassies remains were in the Tomb. Blassie, said Ted, I believe your son is in the Tomb of the Unknown.. When they came back, they handed Michael Blassies remains toCalhoon. Your donations are vital to keeping us independent and strong! That destiny was already in motion. Her father died in a traffic accident when she was 9 or 10. We believe Michael would have been proud of how we pulled together to bring him home. ). "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. Blassie died when his A-37B Dragonfly was shot down near An Lc in what was then South Vietnam. In 1998 the Tomb of the Unknown was . He believed, for example, that Senator John McCain had been brainwashed at the Hanoi Hilton and was sent back to the US to orchestrate official coverups of living POWs in Southeast Asia. That single set of remains was known only as X-26, but his actual name was Michael Blassie. [3] After Blassie's family secured permission, the remains were exhumed on May 14, 1998. Dubbed the "super-tweet . Find records of Michael Blassie Birth records Marriage records Divorce records After 26 years, the family of Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, buried the pilot Saturday, ending a painful mystery that began in 1972. 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. He and Michael were very close. Calhoon assumed that Michaels remains would be returning to his family,but that wasnt the case. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. The President also acted as next of kin to the unidentified Blassie by accepting the interment flag at the end of the ceremony. (She would retire in 2018 as a full-bird Colonel). The remains were then sent to Travis Air Force Base on May 24 and arrived at Andrews Air Force Base the following day. Dont let my viewpoint sully your experience. Jean Blassie, mother of 1st Lt. Michael Blassie, 1998. There, Captain Richard S. Hess of Mortuary Affairs inventoried the package and added a skeletal chart showing the bones locations on the body (right humerus, right pelvis, and four rib bones). For 14 years, the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie lay beneath the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington. Forensic anthropologists took the aged and damaged samples of bone for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing. English The Blassie family watches as their family member Michael, is unloaded from a C-130 Hercules cargo plane, July 10. Veteran Dispatch in 1994 and 1996 had made the claim that Blassie was the Unknown, drawing on Defense Department records. Everyone was free to mourn in their own way. Helton, L.M. 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. In part, because the formula was so easy to follow all that was needed was the body of a single unknown soldier. 99pi keep up the great work. During a tour of Vietnam, he served as a member of the 8th Special Operations Squadron. 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