Part 2: DNA. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. Placing a Medal of Honor on X-26s flag-draped casket, the President concluded, Thank you, dear son, and may God cradle you in his loving arms.. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. She attended Wellston High School but left after three years to work as a nurses aide at DePaul Hospital. Visit the digital memorial page of Veteran Michael Joseph Blassie where you can share stories, photos, biographies, obituaries, tributes and more. That just couldnt be. He was unknown no more because of the determination of his mother and siblings. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Scientists at CIL-HI estimated the deceaseds age to be between 26-33 years and height between 65.2-71.5 inches. (She would retire in 2018 as a full-bird Colonel). Feel free to, By submitting this form, you acknowledge that you have read the, The city of An Loc was totally leveled it looked like Hiroshima, I thought this is the best example of internet conspiracy garbage Ive seen to date,. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Blassie's unidentified remains were designated as the Vietnam Unknown service member by Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Blassie, who was killed in Vietnam. Im curious how the remains werent identifiable as Michael Blassie if he was the only remaining unidentified serviceman from the war. 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. Resend Activation Email. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? Captain Parnell wrapped the remains, and the other items found at the crash site, in plastic and held them overnight. Every recovered American service member killed in action since the Vietnam War has been identified and buried. The Pentagon had kept them in the dark, probably with the good intention of not getting the familys hopes up until Michaels identity could be confirmed. Its just an outsiders way of honoring all of your sacrifices. It has been watched over day and night since 1937 by a lone guard, forever marching back and forth in front of the tomb. United States Air Force Vietnam Veteran. We believe Michael would have been proud of how we pulled together to bring him home. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. There they would rest for eight years in a file labeled X-26 until their date with destiny arrived. Instead of moving Michaels remains to the burial ground at Arlington, the family decided to have Michael re-interred at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery along the Mississippi River just south of the city. 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 . In 1994, over two decades after Michael had been killed, his family received a phone call from a complete stranger named Ted Sampley. Secretary of Defense William Cohen was on hand for the somber burial. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? The remains did not consist of much, just six bones. At flight school, Michael was assigned to fly a ground attack aircraft known as the A-37. Two weeks later, Michael Blassie was buried for good near the family's home . The gravesite of 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery on Thursday, June 13, 2013. They saw the identification of Michaels remains as a loss for them. Your email address will not be published. [3] After Blassie's family secured permission, the remains were exhumed on May 14, 1998. As the Medal of Honor was ceremoniously presented to the unidentified remains, it did not transfer to Blassie who did receive four awards, including the Silver Star (see above), on his own merit for documented valor, heroism and achievements during his actions in combat in Vietnam. Privacy Policy & Terms of Service. Search above to list available cemeteries. 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. In January 1998, CBS Evening News broke the story: The military had hidden pilot Michael Blassies identity from his family and the public. Michael, after all, was her first born. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Everything about the war not only the numbers, but the nature of it was dehumanizing, says Robert Poole, author of the book On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery. He basically sat on a shelf from 1972 to 1984, Patricia Blassie said. 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. She grew bitter and even considered quitting the service. Id also remind them that Michael was never an Unknown Soldier. Make sure that the file is a photo. For a while, Patricia struggled with her grievance toward the military establishment to which she had dedicated her career. Signaling its determination to have its Vietnam Unknown, the Pentagon gave Webb six months to make a positive ID of X-26. Out of the fog of war comes another version of the incident, one in which Michaels Dragonfly inverts upside down, and Michael ejects from the stricken aircraft. For Pat Blassie, Michael's sister, the once unknown soldier still is a symbol for the country. In 1997, Gonzalez contacted Patricia. Required fields are marked *, 99% Invisible DNA tests confirmed that the previously unknown soldier was, in fact, Michael Blassie. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. Thanks to improved forensics, there will likely never be an unknown from Iraq or Afghanistan or any future war. Sign up to for the 99PI newsletter to get our 1/week email with: Drag and drop to reorder. ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. They were a match and Michael Blassies remains were returned to his family. Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now You can watch his conversation with Colonel Patricia Blassie on A Veterans Story on the VBCs YouTube channel, youtube.com/veteransbreakfastclub. . They interviewed Parnell, by then a retired Colonel living in Florida. He and Michael were very close. During a tour of Vietnam, he served as a member of the 8th Special Operations Squadron. She took on the military, won, and brought him back for burial in his hometown of St. Louis. #HonorVeterans #VetLegacies. It was on one of these bombing runs, shortly before Calhoon arrived in An Loc, that Michael Blassie flew his 132th and final mission. Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, USA. Pilots loved itbecause being that close the ground heightened the sense of flight and speed. 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. 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. 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. Try again later. As far as she was concerned, the case was closed. The Romans were fond of honoring them with an empty sarcophagus. So they finally took him off the shelf, file X-26, and for that Im thankful. Plot Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Or so the story went. Of those, 470 are considered non-recoverable. That is, death has been determined, but no remains can be recovered. I saluted smartly and put the thought aside. After his remains were identified by DNA testing in 1998, they were reburied at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis County, Missouri. Given the advance of DNA technology, there may never be another US Unknown. On May 14, 1998, the remains were exhumed and tested, revealing the "unknown" soldier to be Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie. This is especially true for people like me that have no familial association with the military. . Without a positive match, due to Army policy, the Blassie family could not even be told that any remains had been found. "He and. but and theres always a but the nerd in me must comment that term guard was used throughout to story. Eli Lilly to cut insulin prices by 70%, cap monthly costs at $35 All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. The accompanying shells found their mark. I find meaning in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument. Michael Blassies C-37 Dragonfly was part of that defense flying support for allied South Vietnamese ground units. They were completely cut off from the rest of the world. The unknowns from World War I and World War II are another story for now, but anything is possible. The DNA technology that could conclusively identify the remains was just around the corner, but in 1984 they were ordered to prepare X-26 for burial. By 1994, Patricia had risen from Airman Basic to Captain and was working in the Pentagon in Public Affairs. He thought about how terrible it was that so many people were essentially being forgotten they deserved better than that. They were initially identified by Mortuary Affairs as Blassie. Michael Blassies skeletal chart, VBC Happy Hour screenshot, 2021. But perhaps Im speaking out of turn. The Vietnam unknown was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors, beneath the headstone that reads, "Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God." There was a problem getting your location. Morphological approximation, worthless though it was, provided quick answers and a veneer of scientific validation. 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. It was so exciting," she says. She was sad about Michaels death but was happy to have him back, Patricia Blassie said. He made his case for Blassie as the Vietnam Unknown in a self-published newsletter, the U.S. The remains would eventually arrive at the Armys Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, but not before thewallet which was critical in linking the remains to Blassie went missing. That Michael might be in the Tomb of the Unknown . Please reset your password. Blassie was killed during the Vietnam war in 1972 and his remains were entombed in the Tomb of the Unknowns. There is nothing but reverence, respect and deep sorrow among visitors. 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. (2006): Identification of Human Remains. It was his 138th combat mission. Articles in U.S. 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. 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. We have set your language to At one point he described the wounded, with their meager medical support, as looking like something out of the Civil War. [1] He then attended Undergraduate Pilot Training, receiving his aeronautical rating as an Air Force pilot in 1971. I thought you might like to see a memorial for 1LT Michael Joseph Blassie I found on Findagrave.com. . First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie, 24, was shot down over South Vietnam in 1972 and presumed dead. They petitioned the Department of Defense to open the site and conduct DNA testing, a technology that had been unavailable . 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. If they had, they might have hung up on him. Over a quarter million people lined the route to Arlington National Cemetery. Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. Morphological approximation presumed that one could determine personal characteristics like age and height by careful examination of bone fragments. "We put away no final memories.". Today, there is no body representing Vietnam at the tomb of the unknowns. There was an error deleting this problem. Serving as next-of-kid, President Ronald Reagan received the folded flag and made brief remarks. Blassie dropped in low for a bombing run on attacking forces when enemy anti-aircraft fire boomed from the ground. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Actually, they had his remains and his military I.D. The first time, he was killed, his aircraft shot down while flying a mission during the Vietnam War in 1972. 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. The discovery of personal effects at the crash site should have converted Michael Blassie from a Vietnam MIA to a KIA, closing his case. . But Mrs. Blassie also had a hunch. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). For Mrs. Blassie, the fight to recover her sons remains took a dramatic turn during a family meeting in November 1997 at her apartment in Florissant. A 1970 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, he served in the Vietnam War as a 1st Lieutenant the 8th Special Operations Squadron. On July 11, 1998, Michael Blassie was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. After Blassie's family secured permission . By 1972, when Michael was deployed, Americas military presence in Southeast Asia was shrinking rapidly. 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. France, Romania, Italy everybody at the same time jumped on this idea. "This has meant so much to us. 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). 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. The enemy threw up what was described as a murderous hail of fire which prevented any rescue or recovery attempt. The timely and accurate identification of men and women who die while serving in the armed forces has long been a priority for the United States government. After 26 years, the family of Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, buried the pilot Saturday, ending a painful mystery that began in 1972. Om 1992, the Defense Department started collecting and holding blood samples from all inductees for possible future DNA comparisons. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Patricia was 13 years old when the Air Force chaplain knocked on their door to deliver the news of Michaels death. On the other, if he destroyed Blassies personal effects, he might condemn Blassies remains to permanent oblivion. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4245/michael-joseph-blassie. Records can get damaged or destroyed, and post-mortem materials can be affected by decomposition, body fragmentation and exposure to heat. His 138th combat mission ended near An Loc, South Vietnam, when the wing was blasted off his plane by enemy fire. Michael Blassie later received an appointment to the Air Force Academy.

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