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. The Romans were fond of honoring them with an empty sarcophagus. display: none; DNA is also stored in tiny, energy-producing structures in the cells, called mitochondria. It was so exciting," she says. On July 10, Blassie's remains were transported to his family in St. Louis, and were later reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. The DNA testing resulted in a perfect match with the Blassies. 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. Michael Blassie The Final Mission. 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. 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? Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with . In 1976, they were shipped to Hawaii to be analyzed by the Armys Central Identification Laboratory (CIL-HI). That just couldnt be. Blassie was born in St. Louis in 1948. That's where he fell in love with flying, Pat Blassie said. One British chaplain named David Railton saw some of the worst of the fighting on the front lines. DNA tests determined that the remains in the tomb were those of Blassie. 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. The pressures of war put a premium on closing cases and moving on, getting the job done even if that meant rushing lab reports. There were fewer than 25,000 US servicemen left in Vietnam, as opposed to the over 500,000 who had been deployed by the late 1960s. No one wanted to inter someone who might eventually be identified. Love your show. But it doesnt make it right that we interred a known soldier, she added. 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. Its one of the reasons the tomb has become one of the Washington D.C. areas biggest tourist attractions. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. 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). There are no volunteers for this cemetery. She says shes not sure why she does it, but it means that shes gotten to know some of the guards. They were initially identified by Mortuary Affairs as Blassie. Twenty-six years after he died, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie came home. Remains identification bordered on guesswork. Patricia was proud also when he headed off to Vietnam six years later. They had to do more with less and that meant Michael was going to see a lot of combat. See http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BlassieMJ01a.htm read more You can always change this later in your Account settings. A 1970 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Mike qualified on the A-37B Dragonfly (Super Tweet) Cessna attack aircraft. Jean Frances Blassie died 15 years later, on Tuesday (June 11, 2013), at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur. Patricia Blassie took the information to officials at the Air Force Casualty Office. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. He also added the critical notation: BTB [Believed to Be] Lt. Blassie, Michael Joseph.. "This shrine was still distant from his house, the soil of Missouri, the banks of the Mississippi. It was his 138th combat mission. 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 guard was sent back and a different guard took over. He served as a Tactical Aircraft Pilot and was assigned to the 8TH SPECIAL OPS SQDN, 377TH AIR BASE WING, 7TH AF. On July 11, 1998, Michael Blassie was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. 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. Om 1992, the Defense Department started collecting and holding blood samples from all inductees for possible future DNA comparisons. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Patricia is on Michaels right (Blassie family). Real soldiers visiting the tomb have a very different perspective on this memorial than I could hope to imagine. For me the one with the most incredible presentation would have to be in Athens, Greece. Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. Articles in U.S. "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. His body wouldnt be coming home. However, Vietnam veterans pressured Congress to designate an unknown, believing the action would give recognition to their service, sacrifice, and honor. She was 90 and had been a longtime Florissant resident before moving to Mary Queen and Mother Center in St. Louis. The discovery of personal effects at the crash site should have converted Michael Blassie from a Vietnam MIA to a KIA, closing his case. Blassie was then listed as "killed in action, no body recoverd." They may have received last rights, families informed, etc, but the rest of us know little about those individuals. The soldiers anonymity would allow each person who came to the grave to project whatever was most important to them onto the mystery. Jean Blassie, mother of 1st Lt. Michael Blassie, 1998. The first time, he was killed, his aircraft shot down while flying a mission during the Vietnam War in 1972. Try again later. That destiny was already in motion. We believe Michael would have been proud of how we pulled together to bring him home. Think you're a Top Gun at aircraft identification? On 11 May 1972 the city of An Loc SVN was under attack by North Vietnamese forces during the so-called Spring Offensive. Two weeks later, Michael Blassie was buried for good near the family's home . In 1997, Gonzalez contacted Patricia. Instead, they were simply designated as BTB believed to be Michael Blassie. 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. That day changed the Blassie family forever, she says. Follow him on Facebook. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Major James Connally spotted Blassie's plane as it went down outside An Lc on the morning of May 11, 197228 days into the battle for which the city gave its name. By 1972, when Michael was deployed, Americas military presence in Southeast Asia was shrinking rapidly. Sampley had no direct evidence proving Michael was in the tomb, but that didnt make him wrong. From top left to bottom right: dog tag chain fragment, signal marker pouch, match holder, parachute survival guide, and ammunition pouch. 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. 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. Sampley told them that remains had been discovered near Michaels crash site, along with items belonging to an Air Force pilot. Michael Blassies C-37 Dragonfly was part of that defense flying support for allied South Vietnamese ground units. One of Calhoons duties, in the midst of all this chaos, was to call in airstrikes. Railton would spend his nights conducting funeral services over the often unidentifiable remains of soldiers ripped apart by shellfire, sometimes burying them on the spot or en masse in the giant craters the shells had left behind. We wanted to know the rest of the story. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Michael Joseph Blassie (1948 - 1972) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days How do we create a person's profile? Dubbed the "super-tweet . Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Dubbed the super-tweet it was designed to fly low over its target. Test your Navy knowledge with this Navy history quiz by Military.com. He related his story of wrapping the remains, with the dog tags, in plastic. In January 1998, CBS Evening News broke the story: The military had hidden pilot Michael Blassies identity from his family and the public. Make sure that the file is a photo. Over the next month, enemy forces cinched the noose, pounding the city with artillery and attempting to starve out the population. Jean Blassie lost her son twice. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Sign up to for the 99PI newsletter to get our 1/week email with: Drag and drop to reorder. Pilots loved itbecause being that close the ground heightened the sense of flight and speed. 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. 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. The remains were then sent to Travis Air Force Base on May 24 and arrived at Andrews Air Force Base the following day. That crypt would remain empty for over a decade. We wanted the entire truth, but they couldnt tell us that., The official designation was KIABNRKilled in Action, Body not Recovered., My father served in Normandy during World War II and he never got over losing Michael, Patricia recalls. 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. They were completely cut off from the rest of the world. Lawsuits claim it wrecked their teeth. Scientists at CIL-HI estimated the deceaseds age to be between 26-33 years and height between 65.2-71.5 inches. (2006): Identification of Human Remains. 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. "We write no last chapters, we close no books," Reagan said. 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