"We write no last chapters, we close no books," Reagan said. And you didnt mention the shoes the specially designed shoes the sentries wear are pretty cool. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Webb refused. (eds): Last edited on 17 February 2023, at 18:50, "Soldier In Tomb Of Unknowns May Actually Be Known", "The Vietnam Unknown Soldier Can Be Identified", "Defense.gov News Article: Vietnam Unknown's Medal of Honor Transfer Denied", "The Evolution of the Tomb of the Unknowns", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Blassie&oldid=1139961298, This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 18:50. You have permission to edit this article. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. If he couldnt do it, Webb would be ordered to sign off on the burial. Check out member benefits and perks . They must have never actually been there. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. That day changed the Blassie family forever, she says. From there, the remains and effects went to Camp Samae San, Thailand, where the US ran a search and recovery center. The next time, the Air Force lost him. His remains were buried in Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of The Unknowns as an unidentified soldier from the Vietnam War. In part, because the formula was so easy to follow all that was needed was the body of a single unknown soldier. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses reelection bid Twenty-six years after he died, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie came home. They interviewed Parnell, by then a retired Colonel living in Florida. The date, location of the crash, bone fragments from the body and remnants of his flight suit and parachute led to the conclusion that it was Michael. Silver StarDistinguished Flying CrossPurple HeartAir Medal & 4 Oak Leaf Clusters (OLC)Killed In Action, Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. His 138th combat mission ended near An Loc, South Vietnam, when the wing was blasted off his plane by enemy fire. US air power was used extensively in defense of the city and five aircraft were lost that day: A-37B-1st Lt Michael J Blassie, 8th SOS, O-2A-Capt, Barry K Allmond, 21st TASS, O-2A, 1st Lt John H Haselton, 21st TASS, AH-1G Cpt . "The resting place of Michael was for so long the Tomb of the Unknowns," Rigali said. (AP Photo/Brian K. Diggs), In thisJune, 30, 1998, photo,Joan Blassie, right, the mother of the Michael Blassie reacts to the news that the remains in the Tomb of Unknowns were confirmed by DNA testing as belonging to her son Lt. Michael Blassie, who was shot down over Vietnam. On Friday, Family and friends gathered to welcome his return at Scott Air Force Base, near Blassie's hometown of Florissant, Mo., a St. Louis suburb. CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat" Photo by Erik M. Lunsford elunsford@post-dispatch.com Jean Blassie lost. Blassie's remains, which had been buried in the Tomb of the . Michaels plane had crashed deep in North Vietnamese held territory. She suffered a stroke in 2004 and recently was diagnosed with pneumonia, her family said Thursday. Try again later. Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with . Pressure began to mount in Washington to place a service member from Vietnam in the tomb of the unknowns, but by 1980 the Blassie remains were the only ones left that hadnt been conclusively identified. Dubbed the "super-tweet . She worked until she was 82. Interestingly, the soldiers identities *were* known and the Danes made an effort to give each soldier his last rites. The soldiers anonymity would allow each person who came to the grave to project whatever was most important to them onto the mystery. There was a problem getting your location. 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,. That Michael might be in the Tomb of the Unknown . After 26 years, the family of Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, buried the pilot Saturday, ending a painful mystery that began in 1972. cemeteries found in Lemay, St. Louis County, Missouri, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. His jet lost a wing, crashed and burned. Its conceivable that they could soon use the same techniques on the unknown serviceman inside the tomb. In 1991 the Department of Defense founded the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL). On July 10, Blassie's remains were transported to his family in St. Louis, and were later reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. The writer had been combing through military records, he said, and found that the Air Force had found the wreckage of Michaels plane five months after he was shot down, 60 miles north of Saigon. Signaling its determination to have its Vietnam Unknown, the Pentagon gave Webb six months to make a positive ID of X-26. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. He connected the dots for the Blassies over the phone. display: none; He told her that he had been researching who was shot down on the date of Michaels death and he believed that her brothers remains were in the Tomb of the Unknowns. I assume now he was meaning in America but i immediately thought to other Countries national Monuments. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. In celebration of the Marine Corps' birthday, Military.com has put together this Marine Corps history quiz. At 67, Mrs. Blassie went back to work as a sales clerk at Dillards. He basically sat on a shelf from 1972 to 1984, Patricia Blassie said. They said Michael had been killed. She grew bitter and even considered quitting the service. With the invention of the polymerase chain reaction in 1985, DNA analysis moved to the forefront of forensic technologies. . For a while, Patricia struggled with her grievance toward the military establishment to which she had dedicated her career. The discovery of personal effects at the crash site should have converted Michael Blassie from a Vietnam MIA to a KIA, closing his case. Calhoon assumed that Michaels remains would be returning to his family,but that wasnt the case. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. It wasnt until World War I that it occurred to anyone to bury a single unknown soldier in a public setting. Webb would later call his grappling with that order the struggle of my life. On the one hand, hed risk court-martial by not destroying the evidence. They saw the identification of Michaels remains as a loss for them. This is a carousel with slides. After hours of discussion, Jean Blassie looked at her children and said, For 26 years, we have been told that Michael was never found, according to an article in Checkpoints magazine. My parents marriage did not survive. [3] After Blassie's family secured permission, the remains were exhumed on May 14, 1998. Many thanks for such a great show, this episode and all the others~ He also added the critical notation: BTB [Believed to Be] Lt. Blassie, Michael Joseph.. Air Force jets fly over Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery during the burial of Lt. Michael Blassie, July 11. Four low-flying F-15s flew overhead, with one pulling out of formation in a missing man salute. The Easter Offensive was the largest and most conventional ground invasion of the Vietnam War. Tony. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. More disturbingly, they also suggested a concerted effort to conceal any links between Blassie and the remains. By taking towns and cities in the South, the North Vietnamese sought to gain territory and improve their bargaining position at the Paris Peace talks underway. I saluted smartly and put the thought aside. Based on mitochondrial DNA testing . Michaels younger sister, Patricia Blassie, was seven years old when her big brother with the gentle smile left for the Air Force Academy in 1966. The chain of custody began with Captain William C. Parnell, an operations officer at An Lc. This browser does not support getting your location. They had no way of knowing the remains so caringly committed to the Tomb were that of their son and brother. One of them told her once that their mission guarding the Unknowns is never really over. . 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." In honor of the Coast Guard's birthday, we've put together a quiz on the service's history and traditions. The remains were eventually sent to a search and recovery center in Thailand before being forwarded to the Army's central identification lab in Hawaii. Though discovered in South Vietnam at the crash site, along with personal effects and survival gear, the remains of US Air Force pilot 1st Lt. Michael Blassie got labeled Unknown. It took the hard work of an eccentric Vietnam veteran activist, an investigative reporter, and the Blassie family to cut through years of bureaucratic bungling, official stonewalling, and government deceit to rescue Blassie from the Tomb and bring him home. After his remains were identified by DNA testing in 1998, they were reburied at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis County, Missouri. 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. To use this feature, use a newer browser. An Army caisson carried his casket from the Capitol to the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 28, 1984. Dont let my viewpoint sully your experience. Patricia was proud also when he headed off to Vietnam six years later. Defense Secretary William Cohen announced that the remains would be disinterred and the DNA tested. (AP Photo/James A. Finley), Lt. Michael J. Blassie is shown in this undated 1971 file photo made during flight training. Another perspective on this issue is that all soldiers are unknown. Of those, 470 are considered non-recoverable. 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