Former GOP Candidate's Military Records Improperly Shared with Democratic Group, Why DARPA Banned the First-Ever First Person Shooter Video Game, Navy Renaming USS Chancellorsville to Honor Union Army Hero, Statesman Who Was Born into Slavery, 2 Commanders Among 6 Fired from Jobs at Minot Air Force Base, Morgan Freeman Turned Down an Acting Scholarship to Join the Air Force. For Pat Blassie, Michael's sister, the once unknown soldier still is a symbol for the country. "We write no last chapters, we close no books," Reagan said. You can watch his conversation with Colonel Patricia Blassie on A Veterans Story on the VBCs YouTube channel, youtube.com/veteransbreakfastclub. There was no question, the remains were Michaels. Follow him on Facebook. 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. In the early 1990s, Blassie's family received word that his remains might be buried in the Tomb of the Unknown. 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. After 26 years, the family of Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, buried the pilot Saturday, ending a painful mystery that began in 1972. But thanks to improved battlefield evacuation tactics, the Vietnam War produced only four sets of unidentified remains that could potentially go into the tomb. & Spitz, D.J. Tonight: Occasional mixed rain and snow. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments. A hunch told him there might be something to Sampleys claims, and he began his own investigation. DNA tests confirmed that the previously unknown soldier was, in fact, Michael Blassie. (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. The DNA testing resulted in a perfect match with the Blassies. Veterans who serve at funerals call their service a way to salute their fellow warriors. "We put away no final memories.". They interviewed Parnell, by then a retired Colonel living in Florida. Jean Blassie, mother of 1st Lt. Michael Blassie, 1998. The recruiters said if I joined the Air Force, Id travel, get excellent training,and an education. President Reagan presided over the funeral and presented the Medal of Honor to the Vietnam Unknown. Twenty-six years after he died, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie came home. Make sure that the file is a photo. Blassie was born in St. Louis in 1948. He was shot down and killed while piloting his A-37B Dragonfly aircraft in the vicinity of An Loc, in South Vietnam. A fellow airman saw tracer rounds directed toward Mikes A-37. I know about Ted Sampleys past, he told her, but I believe its true.. Search above to list available cemeteries. Are you sure that you want to delete this memorial? Love each and every podcast . "He and. From there, the remains and effects went to Camp Samae San, Thailand, where the US ran a search and recovery center. If we were confident enough the remains belonged to a US soldier that we put them in the tomb of the unknown, wouldnt process of elimination lead us to this conclusion? Sampley was a former Green Beret who had served in Vietnam. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. In 1994, over two decades after Michael had been killed, his family received a phone call from a complete stranger named Ted Sampley. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. Another perspective on this issue is that all soldiers are unknown. His remains were finally brought home aboard a C-130 cargo plane Friday in a solemn service befitting a pilot killed in the line of duty in Vietnam. Morphological approximation presumed that one could determine personal characteristics like age and height by careful examination of bone fragments. He also added the critical notation: BTB [Believed to Be] Lt. Blassie, Michael Joseph.. In 1997, Gonzalez contacted Patricia. Id also remind them that Michael was never an Unknown Soldier. 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. The dedication alone attracted so many mourners, the line for viewing lasted ten days. 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. 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. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Signaling its determination to have its Vietnam Unknown, the Pentagon gave Webb six months to make a positive ID of X-26. English They were just looking out for him until he could go home. That crypt would remain empty for over a decade. There, a plaque holds words from. 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. The gravesite of 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery on Thursday, June 13, 2013. A seven-month CBS News investigation has revealed, reported correspondent Eric Engberg, that the identity of the unknown serviceman is almost certainly known, and that some military officials, for whatever reason, knew it all along and tried to hide it.. Major James Connally, Blassies flight commander, described the tragic incident in a letter to Michaels parents: Mikes plane was hit and began streaming fuel. She was 90 and had been a longtime Florissant resident before moving to Mary Queen and Mother Center in St. Louis. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. That is, he fell outside the approximated ranges on both counts. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. The bones were taken to the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, where officials said they were "believed to be" those of Blassie. Learn more about merges. Thanks for your help! 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. 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. 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. The Medal of Honor bestowed upon him as the Vietnam Unknown was not transferred to Blassie after his remains were identified. . I think a third section of these guards/ceremonies around the world would have been a great inclusion. A simple process of elimination made clear that the remains had to be a small fixed-wing pilot like Michael. Jean Frances Blassie died 15 years later, on Tuesday (June 11, 2013), at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur. Now that DNA samples are taken from everyone who joins the U.S. Armed Forces, there may never be another American "unknown soldier.". I thought you might like to see a memorial for 1LT Michael Joseph Blassie I found on Findagrave.com. Captain Parnell wrapped the remains, and the other items found at the crash site, in plastic and held them overnight. At one point he described the wounded, with their meager medical support, as looking like something out of the Civil War. The remains were confirmed to be those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. 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. Michael Blassie and T-38 jet trainer (Blassie family). "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. Michael Blassie received an appointment to the Air Force and fell in love with flying immediately. Defense Secretary William Cohen announced that the remains would be disinterred and the DNA tested. The remains were reclassified as unknown when their projected age and height were judged not to match Blassie's.[1]. 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. Flying at a low altitude to drop napalm, he would have been propelled into the ground. Jean Blassie dies; she fought to get her son buried at home in St. Louis. That just couldnt be. On 11 May 1972 the city of An Loc SVN was under attack by North Vietnamese forces during the so-called Spring Offensive. (AP Photo/James A. Finley), Lt. Michael J. Blassie is shown in this undated 1971 file photo made during flight training. No other MIA or KIA even remotely near the An Lc location would have possessed a life raft, parachute, and pistol holster. They were initially classified as belonging to Lt. Blassie. 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 . What is the music played at the end of this podcast? Family members linked to this person will appear here. Plot 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. When it came to tracking MIAs, Sampley was shrewd and tireless. Trailing the procession were Vietnam veterans, comparatively disheveled with beards, long hair, and jungle fatigues. In honor of the Coast Guard's birthday, we've put together a quiz on the service's history and traditions. Michael Blassies squadron was providing that air support over An Loc. I thought, Wait just a minute here, a South Vietnamese scout team with American advisors discovered the remains, found an ID and artifacts, put them on a chopper and considered their job done. I thought, What is that? I went into the backyard and waited, I mean, everything seemed so strange. Patricia was proud also when he headed off to Vietnam six years later. I never dreamed Id never see Michael again., The Blassie siblings, 1961. It was all part of the effort to make sure that the Unknown could represent everyone who ever fought in the war. Try again later. After Blassie's family secured permission . "He's still serving today because he now represents those that need to come home," she said. For 14 years, the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie lay beneath the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington. Blassies was A positive. Sampley had come across some second-hand accounts suggesting that Americas only set of unknown remains from Vietnam had been recovered from an aircraft that had been shot down in 1972. Revealing the Unknown: The Mystery of Michael Blassie | Missouri Historical Society 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was killed in action during the Vietnam War, but his remains were unrecovered because the fighting was so intense in the area where his plane crashed. As far as she was concerned, the case was closed. 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story" He served as a Tactical Aircraft Pilot and was assigned to the 8TH SPECIAL OPS SQDN, 377TH AIR BASE WING, 7TH AF. On May 11, Communist forces unleashed an all-out assault to take An Lc. Mourners are grateful for their extra effort. Of those, 470 are considered non-recoverable. That is, death has been determined, but no remains can be recovered. The military is now in the process of using the DNA from the families of missing veterans to identify over 650 sets of unknown remains from the Korean 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. An honor guard was fired a 21-gun salute and F-15 Eagle fighters flew overhead in the "missing man" formation as Blassie was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis in a ceremony presided over by the eldest sibling, Pat Blassie, a captain in the Air Force Reserve. In addition, a single strand of hair found in the flight suit yielded an estimated blood type O negative. Drag images here or select from your computer for 1LT Michael Joseph Blassie memorial. 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. Blassie, who was killed in Vietnam. It has been watched over day and night since 1937 by a lone guard, forever marching back and forth in front of the tomb. Find records of Michael Blassie Birth records Marriage records Divorce records Unlike nuclear DNA, each cell carries more than a hundred copies of mtDNA, since each cell contains many mitochondria but only one nucleus. Year should not be greater than current year. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. Michael, after all, was her first born. It represents all soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. 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. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Please reset your password. It didnt matter if you wanted to honor all those who served or merely those who died, those who volunteered or those who were drafted, or even whether you were for the war or against it. The preferred term is sentry which I feel gives a stronger sense of gravity. 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. Privacy Policy & Terms of Service. 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. The President also acted as next of kin to the unidentified Blassie by accepting the interment flag at the end of the ceremony. While supplies last, you can get an author-signed 99% Invisible uses cookies to help improve your user experience. The Blassies went public, calling for DNA tests to prove that the remains were Michaels. They never got updates on recovery efforts. Im curious how the remains werent identifiable as Michael Blassie if he was the only remaining unidentified serviceman from the war. Three years later, in 1997, Vince Gonzales, a young correspondent with CBS News, contacted the Blassies. Michael Joseph Townsend Sr. Obituary. Interestingly, the soldiers identities *were* known and the Danes made an effort to give each soldier his last rites. 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. Members of Blassie's family could not be reached immediately for comment yesterday. Records can get damaged or destroyed, and post-mortem materials can be affected by decomposition, body fragmentation and exposure to heat. But the military didnt tell anyone, officials later explained, because they said they couldnt be certain that it was he. Two weeks after the offensive began, combined NVA and Viet Cong forces laid siege to the provincial capital of An Lc, located 100km north of Saigon. Michael Joseph Blassie was born on April 4, 1948. Theyre too upsetting. Photo by Erik M. Lunsford elunsford@post-dispatch.com Jean Blassie lost. But it doesnt make it right that we interred a known soldier, she added. f\j Weather. Pilots loved itbecause being that close the ground heightened the sense of flight and speed. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. 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. Patricia is on Michaels right (Blassie family). Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. By the time his mother found out where he was, his remains were entombed in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington. Air Force jets fly over Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery during the burial of Lt. Michael Blassie, July 11. The Blassie family wasnt in attendance. Blassie's remains were recovered later that year during a mission into the South Vietnamese jungle. Your email address will not be published. They denied it. By no means, the office reported back, is there anything to substantiate that your brother is in the Tomb of the Unknown.. She grew bitter and even considered quitting the service. We have set your language to She stood strong, did what was right and led the family.. Required fields are marked *, 99% Invisible All Rights Reserved. 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. On July 10, 1998, Michael Blassie's body was released to his family. It was so exciting, she says. He basically sat on a shelf from 1972 to 1984, Patricia Blassie said. [6] Even though they were still officially believed to belong to Blassie, the lab was ordered to strip the remains of their believed to be designation, and give them the anonymous designation X-26. She attended Wellston High School but left after three years to work as a nurses aide at DePaul Hospital. On March 21, 1984, Webb reluctantly signed. 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. Those who fell in the Vietnam War would thereby be honored alongside the three other Unknowns from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. We wanted to know the rest of the story. But not all remains can be identified with such methods. Or so the story went. Blassie was buried Saturday with full military honors at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. On May 11, 1972, at age 24, his A-37B Dragonfly aircraft was shot down near An Loc, about 60 miles north of Saigon. Scientists at CIL-HI estimated the deceaseds age to be between 26-33 years and height between 65.2-71.5 inches. 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. His jet lost a wing, crashed and burned. No one wanted to inter someone who might eventually be identified. 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. Today he comes home.". The Blassie family in St. Louis didnt know Michael had been misidentified because they were never told thered been remains and effects recovered in the first place. He had written an article he said proved that her brother had been buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery on May 28, 1984. The US Air Force responded with aerial counterattacks. It was around this time that David Railton came across a temporary grave, a few miles behind the front, marked only by a cross bearing the name of a regiment and the words: An unknown British soldier.. . Four low-flying F-15s flew overhead, with one pulling out of formation in a missing man salute. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. #inline-recirc-item--id-91b39784-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d ~ .item:nth-child(5) { The guard was sent back and a different guard took over. 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. Ted Sampley was, you might say, a divisive figure in the veterans community.
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