#inline-recirc-item--id-91b39784-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d, #right-rail-recirc-item--id-91b39784-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d { Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. All Rights Reserved. In 1998 the Tomb of the Unknown was . It turns out that, unlike previous wars, the Vietnam War didnt produce many Unknowns. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Michael Blassie (4245)? Armed with the documents, he teamed up with veteran CBS correspondent, Eric Engberg. 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. On July 11, 1998, Michael Blassie was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. After petitioning the United States Government for permission, his family had his body exhumed. 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. Pilots loved itbecause being that close the ground heightened the sense of flight and speed. On July 11, 1998, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was buried with full military honors in Jefferson National Cemetery, Missouri, near his hometown, in the same cemetery as his father. He subsequently qualified as an A-37 Dragonfly pilot and served as a member of the 8th Special Operations Squadron, deployed to Southeast Asia. Michael Blassies C-37 Dragonfly was part of that defense flying support for allied South Vietnamese ground units. In my 17-year-old mind, that sounded like a good deal.. Jean Blassie, mother of 1st Lt. Michael Blassie, 1998. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. The year after Michael Blassies death, Congress directed the Department of Defense to select the remains of an Unknown Vietnam servicemember to be interred in Arlington National Cemeterys Tomb of the Unknown. 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. We want the truth, we want to bring him home. Dad set up a little memorial in the basement and would go down there all the time and just sit., When something like this happens in a family, [it] can bring a family together or tear it apart. Michael Joseph Blassie (April 4, 1948 May 11, 1972) was a United States Air Force officer who was killed in action during the Vietnam War in May 1972. The American memorial is especially beautiful. 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. 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. Test your Navy knowledge with this Navy history quiz by Military.com. First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie (April 4, 1948 - May 11, 1972) was an officer in the United States Air Force. . You can watch his conversation with Colonel Patricia Blassie on A Veterans Story on the VBCs YouTube channel, youtube.com/veteransbreakfastclub. By 1994, Patricia had risen from Airman Basic to Captain and was working in the Pentagon in Public Affairs. It sits at the top of a hill that overlooks the rest of Arlington Cemetery. 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. That Michael might be in the Tomb of the Unknown . The government does not have the right to keep such information from the family., When I looked into all the documents and from my personal research, it was obvious that improper decisions were being made, and all of sudden Michael is the Unknown representing the missing from the Vietnam War. Instead, they were simply designated as BTB believed to be Michael Blassie. Try again later. In 1997, Gonzalez contacted Patricia. "Mike lived a hero, and he came home a hero," said Emanuel Cassimatis, the Air Force Academy liaison officer who recruited Blassie in 1965. That was enough for Captain Patricia Blassie. Many Vietnam veterans, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan visited Blassie as he lay in state in the U.S. Capitol. Blassie, who was killed in Vietnam. Those vacuum-sealed samples now number some 8 million, sitting ready for a self-reference analysis in case of battlefield death. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. Updated: June 21, 2016 . His sister, Pat Blassie, was 10 years younger than her brother, but she remembered he started working as a kid by selling newspapers on the street corner. When Britain dedicated the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey in 1920, it garnered a lot of attention. The body will be cremated and her remains buried at Calvary Cemetery with her parents and grandparents. President Reagan presided over the funeral and presented the Medal of Honor to the Vietnam Unknown. "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. "The resting place of Michael was for so long the Tomb of the Unknowns," Rigali said. (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. She attended Wellston High School but left after three years to work as a nurses aide at DePaul Hospital. DNA tests confirmed that the previously unknown soldier was, in fact, Michael Blassie. [6] Western reporters called it a mini-Stalingrad, the ugliest kind of siege warfare. Perhaps they should put up a new plaque at the memorial that talks about the fact that there may never again be an unknown soldier. Sampleys words landed like a percussion grenade in the Blassie household. Michael, after all, was her first born. Real soldiers visiting the tomb have a very different perspective on this memorial than I could hope to imagine. On May 14, 1998, the Department of the Defense disinterred the remains of the Vietnam veteran from the Tomb of the Unknowns. GREAT NEWS! 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. well, that was simply too much to believe. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed Hey there beautiful nerd! After Blassie's family secured permission . Dubbed the "super-tweet . This is a carousel with slides. United States Air Force Vietnam Veteran. A system error has occurred. The guard was sent back and a different guard took over. At least he went into a place of honor.. All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. Visit the digital memorial page of Veteran Michael Joseph Blassie where you can share stories, photos, biographies, obituaries, tributes and more. France, Romania, Italy everybody at the same time jumped on this idea. The pressures of war put a premium on closing cases and moving on, getting the job done even if that meant rushing lab reports. }, First published on July 10, 1998 / 4:49 PM. Mourners included military personnel, veterans and civilians. Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body. 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. President Ronald Reagan bestowed the Medal of Honor upon the Vietnam unknown. After petitioning the United States Government for permission, his family had his body exhumed. 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 . During a tour of Vietnam, he served as a member of the 8th Special Operations Squadron. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Love your show. Based on mitochondrial DNA testing, Department of Defense scientists were able to identify Blassie's remains. The file that Vince discovered made it clear the the person who had been put in the tomb in 1984 had been far from unknown. Find records of Michael Blassie Birth records Marriage records Divorce records They brought him home for burial in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis. . "We write no last chapters, we close no books," Reagan said. The ability to match mtDNA between related individuals, and the fact that it does not degrade as rapidly as nuclear DNA, makes it a valuable tool in the identification of human remains. First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie, 24, was shot down over South Vietnam in 1972 and presumed dead. Your email address will not be published. But the evidence that they were Blassie's was too slim, so the designation was removed in 1979. Eli Lilly to cut insulin prices by 70%, cap monthly costs at $35 Air Force jets fly over Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery during the burial of Lt. Michael Blassie, July 11. That they all made the ultimate sacrifice for me. 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. 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). From top left to bottom right: dog tag chain fragment, signal marker pouch, match holder, parachute survival guide, and ammunition pouch. Yet he was found five months after he was shot down and then buried without our knowledge in the Tomb of the Unknowns. Over a quarter million people lined the route to Arlington National Cemetery. How to honor unidentified remains has always been one of the great conundrums of war. 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. Failed to remove flower. Trending News He was convinced the government wasnt telling veterans everything it knew, and he was calling Patricia Blassie with an outlandish theory about Michaels death. This account has been disabled. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. 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.. Patricia was proud also when he headed off to Vietnam six years later. Given the advance of DNA technology, there may never be another US Unknown. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses reelection bid It is very austere and moving. 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. Trailing the procession were Vietnam veterans, comparatively disheveled with beards, long hair, and jungle fatigues. The first time, he was killed, his aircraft shot down while flying a mission during the Vietnam War in 1972. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Failed to delete memorial. Michael was no longer Unknown. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. The ARVN turned the remains and the other crash site items over to Captain William C. Parnell, who was then serving as an operations officer at An Loc. Major Johnie Webb was the officer in charge of the Armys Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. His 138th combat mission ended near An Loc, South Vietnam, when the wing was blasted off his plane by enemy fire. He was made one., Whenever Patricias mother received criticism for requesting Michaels removal from the Tomb of the Unknown, she would simply shrug and say, Hes not your son.. Michael Joseph Blassie was a United States Air Force officer who was killed in action during the Vietnam War in May 1972. I missed the names of the two announcers who discussed the Arlington Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument and chuckled together over some of the changing of the guard ceremony and sentry duties. 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. The remains did not consist of much, just six bones. She and her four children met to try to figure out what to do. The gravesite of 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery on Thursday, June 13, 2013. 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. Try again later. Prior to the identification of his remains, Blassie was the unknown service member . Process of elimination might sounded like it could have worked, until you take in account of the 2000+ MIA service members in that war. Search above to list available cemeteries. Your donations are vital to keeping us independent and strong! That single set of remains was known only as X-26, but his actual name was Michael Blassie. Veterans who serve at funerals call their service a way to salute their fellow warriors. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4245/michael-joseph-blassie. "At a moment of great crises in the history of the world, he gave of himself," Archbishop Justin Rigali said to about 350 friends, family members and current and former members of the military. To many Vietnam veterans, Patricia explains, it was pretty upsetting to have the Vietnam Unknown disinterred. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Please enter valid email address to continue. They said Michael had been killed. 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. Chuck Norris, U.S. military veteran, and martial arts superstar began honing his skills in Korea while serving in the Air Before he went on to fame as B.A. I think a third section of these guards/ceremonies around the world would have been a great inclusion. That destiny was already in motion. Michael Blassie later received an appointment to the Air Force Academy. It was so exciting," she says. In the early 1990s, Blassie's family received word that his remains might be buried in the Tomb of the Unknown. Michael Blassies skeletal chart, VBC Happy Hour screenshot, 2021. 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. One of Calhoons duties, in the midst of all this chaos, was to call in airstrikes. The recruiters said if I joined the Air Force, Id travel, get excellent training,and an education. Human beings have copies of DNA from each biological parent, stored in the nucleus of every cell. They saw the identification of Michaels remains as a loss for them. Become a member of the Veterans Breakfast Club for only $36/year! Major James Connally, Blassies flight commander, described the tragic incident in a letter to Michaels parents: Mikes plane was hit and began streaming fuel. They had a letter from his flight leader, James Connally, who recapped what had happened., Still, without remains, there was a terrible sense of open-ended grief. Its just an outsiders way of honoring all of your sacrifices. No one doubted his commitment to the cause of POW/MIAs. 6 ] Western reporters called it a mini-Stalingrad, the ugliest kind of siege.... A nurses aide at DePaul Hospital, deployed to Southeast Asia this idea her children. 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