St. Louis native Michael Blassie was the picture of an ideal young Air Force officer: tall, handsome, with a hospitable grin and approachable demeanor. Michael Joseph Townsend Sr. Obituary. Mike always knew what he wanted, I didnt. If they had, they might have hung up on him. Failed to report flower. Blassie's mother, three sisters and brother each carried small American flags during the service. DNA tests confirmed that the previously unknown soldier was, in fact, Michael Blassie. They were the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, who was shot down over An Loc on May 11, 1972. . 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. Michael Blassie in his Air Force Academy cadet uniform. 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. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Prior to the identification of his remains, Blassie was the unknown service member from the Vietnam War buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington got to work building a special new crypt for the Tomb, one designed to hold the Vietnam War remains. Sampley had no direct evidence proving Michael was in the tomb, but that didnt make him wrong. Michael Blassie The Final Mission. 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. 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. To Army scientists, these findings superseded any other evidence, such as documents or personal effects. An Army caisson carried his casket from the Capitol to the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 28, 1984. 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,. There is nothing but reverence, respect and deep sorrow among visitors. Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses reelection bid. Then, as more information about those remains was discovered, only one set of remains remained unknown. The body will be cremated and her remains buried at Calvary Cemetery with her parents and grandparents. It sits at the top of a hill that overlooks the rest of Arlington Cemetery. An Army band played mournfully while 21-gun salutes cracked in the distance. The accompanying shells found their mark. 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. Visit the digital memorial page of Veteran Michael Joseph Blassie where you can share stories, photos, biographies, obituaries, tributes and more. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. It may be that forensic science has reached the point where there will be no other unknowns in any war. Major Johnie Webb was the officer in charge of the Armys Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. Blassie died when his A-37B Dragonfly was shot down near An Lc in what was then South Vietnam. They were completely cut off from the rest of the world. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. [1] He then attended Undergraduate Pilot Training, receiving his aeronautical rating as an Air Force pilot in 1971. [3][4] A CBS News report in January 1998 subsequently made the same claim. He had been shot down near An Loc, Vietnam, in 1972.. Silver StarDistinguished Flying CrossPurple HeartAir Medal & 4 Oak Leaf Clusters (OLC)Killed In Action, Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. The report triggered a speedy response from the Department of Defense which, after its own investigation, ordered the Tomb to be opened and the Vietnam Unknowns remains to undergo DNA testing at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. 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. Jean Frances Blassie died 15 years later, on Tuesday (June 11, 2013), at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur. Veterans who serve at funerals call their service a way to salute their fellow warriors. Hey there beautiful nerd! That simple, tragic explanation would be the only one that Blassies parents ever heard for 26 years. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? f\j Weather. 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." The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Trending News 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. To many Vietnam veterans, Patricia explains, it was pretty upsetting to have the Vietnam Unknown disinterred. United States Air Force Vietnam Veteran. Every recovered American service member killed in action since the Vietnam War has been identified and buried. Calhoon assumed that Michaels remains would be returning to his family. These sources reinforced the probability that Michael Blassies remains were in the Tomb. They talked to anyone they could find who was involved in the unknown selection process, and when they felt they were ready, they handed over their findings to Patricia Blassie. What is the music played at the end of this podcast? Jean Blassie lost her son twice. Failed to remove flower. All rights reserved. Western reporters called it a mini-Stalingrad, the ugliest kind of siege warfare. The recruiters said if I joined the Air Force, Id travel, get excellent training,and an education. It was so exciting," she says. So they finally took him off the shelf, file X-26, and for that Im thankful. Without a positive match, due to Army policy, the Blassie family could not even be told that any remains had been found. Everyone was free to mourn in their own way. . I want to bring my son home.. ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. "Today was a significant day for us," Blassie's brother, George Blassie said during Friday's service. (AP Photo/James A. Finley), Lt. Michael J. Blassie is shown in this undated 1971 file photo made during flight training. 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. The changing of the guard is quite ceremonial there and is well worth a look. There, a plaque holds words from the Gettysburg Address: "We can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow this ground. 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 . Blassie was born in St. Louis in 1948. There is a problem with your email/password. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Patricia still visits the tomb. Blassie, a decorated pilot, was 24 when he died in May 1972. How much do you know about the founding of the U.S. Army? Photo by Erik M. Lunsford elunsford@post-dispatch.com. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. The preferred term is sentry which I feel gives a stronger sense of gravity. Blassie's remains, which had been buried in the Tomb of the . Michael Blassie later received an appointment to the Air Force Academy. This browser does not support getting your location. DNA tests confirmed that the previously unknown soldier was, in fact, Michael Blassie. 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. Please enter your email and password to sign in. For Pat Blassie, Michael's sister, the once unknown soldier still is a symbol for the country. 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. As far as she was concerned, the case was closed. That destiny was already in motion. Jean Blassie called the family together for a round-the-table discussion. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. The Easter Offensive was the largest and most conventional ground invasion of the Vietnam War. While supplies last, you can get an author-signed 99% Invisible uses cookies to help improve your user experience. In addition, a single strand of hair found in the flight suit yielded an estimated blood type O negative. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. DNA identification had yet to advance to its current state when Blassie's remains were repatriated, and he lay in the Tomb of the Unknowns up to 1998, with visitors paying respects but unaware of his identity. 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. One of the most memorable actors ever almost gave it up to be an Air Force pilot. 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. The aircraft went down in flames. Id also remind them that Michael was never an Unknown Soldier. I wouldnt think there was a known soldier in the Tomb of the Unknowns, she recalled thinking. 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. After his remains were identified by DNA testing in 1998, they were reburied at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis County, Missouri. 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. 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. That day changed the Blassie family forever, she says. President Reagan presided over the funeral and presented the Medal of Honor to the Vietnam Unknown. There they would rest for eight years in a file labeled X-26 until their date with destiny arrived. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Serving as next-of-kid, President Ronald Reagan received the folded flag and made brief remarks. 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. They were a match and Michael Blassies remains were returned to his family. He thought about how terrible it was that so many people were essentially being forgotten they deserved better than that. Try again later. No other MIA or KIA even remotely near the An Lc location would have possessed a life raft, parachute, and pistol holster. 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. She suffered a stroke in 2004 and recently was diagnosed with pneumonia, her family said Thursday. 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. That they all made the ultimate sacrifice for me. That single set of remains was known only as X-26, but his actual name was Michael Blassie. At least he went into a place of honor.. Some evidence suggests that the remains ceremonially laid to rest by President Reagan 14 years ago belong to 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, a decorated flier still officially listed as missing in . It wasnt until World War I that it occurred to anyone to bury a single unknown soldier in a public setting. I know about Ted Sampleys past, he told her, but I believe its true.. The Medal of Honor bestowed upon him as the Vietnam Unknown was not transferred to Blassie after his remains were identified. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. My parents marriage did not survive. The Vietnam crypt of the Tomb of the Unknown, the one that contained Michael Blassies remains, has been empty since the exhumation on May 14, 1998. Many Vietnam veterans, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan visited Blassie as he lay in state in the U.S. Capitol. 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. All Rights Reserved. I thought you might like to see a memorial for 1LT Michael Joseph Blassie I found on Findagrave.com. Also pictured is sister Judy Cozad (left). 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. On July 10, Blassie's remains arrived home to his family in Saint Louis, Missouri and were later reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. 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). Blassie was declared missing in action and presumed dead. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. No one knows how many remains from Vietnam and elsewhere were buried in the wrong graves because of these flawed identification procedures. He was shot down and killed while piloting his A-37B Dragonfly aircraft in the vicinity of An Loc, in South Vietnam. Actually, they had his remains and his military I.D. By 1972, when Michael was deployed, Americas military presence in Southeast Asia was shrinking rapidly. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. Its like the reverse of this 99pi story! Flying at a low altitude to drop napalm, he would have been propelled into the ground. 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. 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. 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. The remains in the tomb are not even technically referred to as an unknown soldier. No one knows which service theyre from, so instead of soldier or sailor or marine, theyre simply referred to as the Unknown. In fact, anything that narrows the scope of who this person could be including where exactly they were found is purposely withheld from the public in order to make sure that they represent every possible service member. 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. } It is very austere and moving. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed well, that was simply too much to believe. High in t the middle 30s. & Spitz, D.J. He subsequently qualified as an A-37 Dragonfly pilot and served as a member of the 8th Special Operations Squadron, deployed to Southeast Asia. They denied it. He also added the critical notation: BTB [Believed to Be] Lt. Blassie, Michael Joseph.. She said then-President Ronald Reagan had wanted to add a Vietnam War soldier to the Tomb of the Unknowns, joining the unknown soldiers from World War I and II and the Korean War. 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. The bones were taken to the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, where officials said they were "believed to be" those of Blassie. #inline-recirc-item--id-91b39784-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d, #right-rail-recirc-item--id-91b39784-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d { 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. They interviewed Parnell, by then a retired Colonel living in Florida. Prior to the identification of his remains, Blassie was the unknown service member . The first time, he was killed, his aircraft shot down while flying a mission during the Vietnam War in 1972. display: block; Think you're a Top Gun at aircraft identification? The test results showed a match with DNA samples from Jean Blassie and her oldest daughter. That single set of remains was known only as X-26, but his actual name was Michael Blassie. In 1998 the Tomb of the Unknown was opened and the remains of the Vietnam Unknownidentified as X-26were removed. Yet he was found five months after he was shot down and then buried without our knowledge in the Tomb of the Unknowns. He was constantly researching, protesting, and pressuring the Pentagon to resolve open cases. Michael Blassie and T-38 jet trainer (Blassie family). Please reset your password. Armed with the documents, he teamed up with veteran CBS correspondent, Eric Engberg. She worked until she was 82. I didnt have any direction, and the family was lower-middle income. On the other, if he destroyed Blassies personal effects, he might condemn Blassies remains to permanent oblivion. During my only visit to the Tomb of the Unknowns, during the changing of the guard, I witnessed what may be a rare event. 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. The remains were reclassified as unknown when their projected age and height were judged not to match Blassie's.[1]. On May 11, Communist forces unleashed an all-out assault to take An Lc. By the time his mother found out where he was, his remains were entombed in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington. Blassie, a 24-year-old first lieutenant, had been missing since May 11, 1972, when his A-37 fighter was shot down over An Loc during a bombing run. I dont care what happened, but the documents showed that patrol went into Michaels crash site to find him, and they did. 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. Calhoon assumed that Michaels remains would be returning to his family,but that wasnt the case. I didnt even know how to go about college. 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. This account has been disabled. Of those, 470 are considered non-recoverable. That is, death has been determined, but no remains can be recovered. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. In 1998 the Tomb of the Unknown was . 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. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Captain Parnell wrapped the remains, and the other items found at the crash site, in plastic and held them overnight. Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request? Tony. The Romans were fond of honoring them with an empty sarcophagus. The president meant to assure families of soldiers with MIA status that their loved ones would not be forgotten, but his words were prescient of the Vietnam unknown's fate. Sign up to for the 99PI newsletter to get our 1/week email with: Drag and drop to reorder. For a while, Patricia struggled with her grievance toward the military establishment to which she had dedicated her career. Your playlist is stored within your cookies, clearing your browser data may remove your playlist. American serviceman who remained behind were stretched thin. 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. Love each and every podcast . Even the thought that remains had been discovered near the crash site seemed preposterous. Id left school early that day, and I looked out the window when I heard a car door slam. 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