When family members received word that his remains might be buried in the Tomb of the Unknown, they petitioned the Department of Defense to open the site and conduct previously unavailable DNA testing. Process of elimination might sounded like it could have worked, until you take in account of the 2000+ MIA service members in that war. 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. 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. Your email address will not be published. Hundreds, including Secretary of Defense William Cohen and House minority leader Richard Gephardt, attended the ceremony. That single set of remains was known only as X-26, but his actual name was Michael Blassie. How to honor unidentified remains has always been one of the great conundrums of war. 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. 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". Blassie was buried Saturday with full military honors at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. Its like the reverse of this 99pi story! Its just an outsiders way of honoring all of your sacrifices. The name he read on the ID card was Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie. Actually, they had his remains and his military I.D. A system error has occurred. See http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BlassieMJ01a.htm read more You can watch his conversation with Colonel Patricia Blassie on A Veterans Story on the VBCs YouTube channel, youtube.com/veteransbreakfastclub. Today, said President Reagan at the Tomb, we pause to embrace him and all who served so well in a war whose end offered no parades, no flags, and so little thanks. #inline-recirc-item--id-91b39784-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d ~ .item:nth-child(5) { Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Thats when a Vietnam veteran and former Green Beret named Ted Sampley called Patricias mother out of the blue. Oops, something didn't work. We were all so proud of him. With the invention of the polymerase chain reaction in 1985, DNA analysis moved to the forefront of forensic technologies. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. They were initially identified by Mortuary Affairs as Blassie. Blassie's unidentified remains were designated as the Vietnam Unknown service member by Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. They brought him home for burial in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis. Follow him on Facebook. On May 14, 1998, the Department of the Defense disinterred the remains of the Vietnam veteran from the Tomb of the Unknowns. But Mrs. Blassie also had a hunch. On the other, if he destroyed Blassies personal effects, he might condemn Blassies remains to permanent oblivion. Records can get damaged or destroyed, and post-mortem materials can be affected by decomposition, body fragmentation and exposure to heat. We believe Michael would have been proud of how we pulled together to bring him home. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. But the evidence that they were Blassie's was too slim, so the designation was removed in 1979. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Interestingly, the soldiers identities *were* known and the Danes made an effort to give each soldier his last rites. When family members received word that his remains might be buried in the Tomb of the Unknown, they petitioned the Department of Defense to open the site and conduct previously unavailable DNA testing. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. 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. Michael Joseph Blassie was born on April 4, 1948. One of them told her once that their mission guarding the Unknowns is never really over. DNA tests confirmed that the previously unknown soldier was, in fact, Michael Blassie. Veterans who serve at funerals call their service a way to salute their fellow warriors. First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie (April 4, 1948 - May 11, 1972) was an officer in the United States Air Force. Try again later. It was so exciting," she says. When it came to tracking MIAs, Sampley was shrewd and tireless. CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat" 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. display: none; The Blassies didnt know Sampley. His body wouldnt be coming home. Captain Parnell wrapped the remains, and the other items found at the crash site, in plastic and held them overnight. His sister Pat described the evidence succinctly: "The trail leads to the tomb." It wasnt until World War I that it occurred to anyone to bury a single unknown soldier in a public setting. Maj. Allan J. Kellogg Jr. during a ceremony at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on May 17, 1984,[2] and were transported aboard the USSBrewton to Naval Air Station Alameda. There, a plaque holds words from the Gettysburg Address: "We can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow this ground. He and Michael were very close. Patricia Blassie took the information to officials at the Air Force Casualty Office. She stood strong, did what was right and led the family.. But in 1956, one small, seemingly innocent change to the formula of the Unknown would prove problematic: we began to add another set of unidentified remains for every subsequent war. Pete Mecca is a speaker, author, and Vietnam Air Force veteran who runs VeteransArticle.com and hosts VBCs A Veterans Story every second Thursday online. I think a third section of these guards/ceremonies around the world would have been a great inclusion. The remains were then sent to Travis Air Force Base on May 24 and arrived at Andrews Air Force Base the following day. We have set your language to Calhoon assumed that Michaels remains would be returning to his family,but that wasnt the case. Twenty-six years after he died, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie came home. Then, in January 1972, he joined the 8th Special Operations Squadron of the 377th Air Base Wing at Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon. 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. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. At 67, Mrs. Blassie went back to work as a sales clerk at Dillards. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Based on mitochondrial DNA testing . In 1994, over two decades after Michael had been killed, his family received a phone call from a complete stranger named Ted Sampley. On March 21, 1984, Webb reluctantly signed. They were a match and Michael Blassies remains were returned to his family. CBS Evening News went public with the explosive story in a broadcast on January 19, 1998. The next time, the Air Force lost him. Those vacuum-sealed samples now number some 8 million, sitting ready for a self-reference analysis in case of battlefield death. Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, USA. Required fields are marked *, 99% Invisible In World War I there were around 1,648 Unknowns, in World War II there were 8,526, the Korean war there were 848. I saluted smartly and put the thought aside. East wind * around 10 mph. The nature of combat in Vietnam and advances in forensic medicine had made it difficult for officials to bury a Vietnam unknown. She suffered a stroke in 2004 and recently was diagnosed with pneumonia, her family said Thursday. The remains were exhumed in May; DNA tests that were not available 26 years ago confirmed the remains were Blassie's. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. 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,. France, Romania, Italy everybody at the same time jumped on this idea. Jean Blassie, mother of 1st Lt. Michael Blassie, 1998. . Blassie was killed during the Vietnam war in 1972 and his remains were entombed in the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was his 138th combat mission. This browser does not support getting your location. They were the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, who was shot down over An Loc on May 11, 1972. . Your playlist is stored within your cookies, clearing your browser data may remove your playlist. 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.. All Rights Reserved. And you didnt mention the shoes the specially designed shoes the sentries wear are pretty cool. 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 is standard, all records pertaining to these remains were destroyed. The accompanying shells found their mark. The dedication alone attracted so many mourners, the line for viewing lasted ten days. Blassie, a decorated pilot, was 24 when he died in May 1972. Web Policies, Careers, Accessibility, HHS Vulnerability Disclosure NLM, 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda MD 20894 NIH, HHS, FOIA, NLM Support Center, Last reviewed: 03 December 2014Last updated: 05 June 2014First published: 16 February 2006, Air Force equipment found with Michael Blassie. World War I ushered in an era of total war and mass conscription, in which the combatants on both sides were mostly ordinary citizens, often rendered anonymous amidst the violence of the Western Front. After petitioning the United States Government for permission, his family had his body exhumed. cemeteries found in Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 1LT Michael Joseph Blassie Birth 4 Apr 1948 Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, USA Death 11 May 1972 (aged 24) Bnh Long, Bnh Phc, Vietnam Memorial Site* National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, USA Show Map * A structure erected in honor of someone whose remains lie elsewhere. Webb refused. 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. That they all made the ultimate sacrifice for me. Id left school early that day, and I looked out the window when I heard a car door slam. Improvements in evacuation, recordkeeping, and forensic science meant that almost all US remains recovered from combat zones were identified. Resend Activation Email. Failed to remove flower. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Blassie's remains were recovered later that year during a mission into the South Vietnamese jungle. ", 1998 The Associated Press. Blassie, 24, an Air Force Academy graduate and the oldest of the five children of a St. Louis meat cutter, was flying an A-37 when he was shot down over An Loc, about 60 miles north of Saigon in South Vietnam, on May 11, 1972. They married in 1947 and had five children. Veteran Dispatch in 1994 and 1996 had made the claim that Blassie was the Unknown, drawing on Defense Department records. In addition, a single strand of hair found in the flight suit yielded an estimated blood type O negative. Failed to delete memorial. "My father, who served in Normandy during World War II, never got over losing Michael," says Patricia Blassie, who was 13 years old when her brother, the oldest of five siblings, died. For 14 years, the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie lay beneath the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington. Gonzales began filing FOIA requests and eventually got back a thick envelope with military documents showing the entire process of the Unknown Soldier selection process. 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. 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. From a computer genius to a popular sitcom star, talented women have made their mark in the U.S. military. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. (AP Photo/James A. Finley), Pat Blassie (second from left) points out to her mother Jean Blassie (third from left) and her sister Mary Hart (right) the C-130 Hercules plane as it arrives at Scott Air Force Base with their brother Michael Blassie's remains. 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