At one point he described the wounded, with their meager medical support, as looking like something out of the Civil War. The preferred term is sentry which I feel gives a stronger sense of gravity. But for whatever reason, the first bad decision was not telling the family. Sampley had no direct evidence proving Michael was in the tomb, but that didnt make him wrong. No one doubted his commitment to the cause of POW/MIAs. East wind * around 10 mph. Twenty-six years after he died, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie came home. Jump to: Bio graphy Family Photos Comments Obit uary. 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. } Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. The soldiers anonymity would allow each person who came to the grave to project whatever was most important to them onto the mystery. Blassie's mother, three sisters and brother each carried small American flags during the service. Remains identification bordered on guesswork. The remains did not consist of much, just six bones. It was a South Vietnamese Army patrol that scoured the crash site and came back with six bone fragments, a Beacon radio, two compasses, an American flag, a parachute, remnants of a pistol holder, a one-man life raft, fragments of a flight suit, a wallet with family pictures, and an ID that read: 1st Lt. Blassie, Michael Joseph., Air Force equipment found with Michael Blassie: dog tag chain fragment, signal marker pouch, match holder, parachute survival guide, and ammunition pouch (Blassie family). Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. That single set of remains was known only as X-26, but his actual name was Michael Blassie. Joseph Michael Leo Findlan Obituary. A neighbor came over to get me, saying, Pat, you need to go inside. So I did and knew something was horribly wrong. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. After nearly two decades of uncertainty, the family of Blassie can finally reveal the empty crypt in which the men and women who served in Vietnam were buried, as well as the flag that was once flown over it. Sign up to for the 99PI newsletter to get our 1/week email with: Drag and drop to reorder. "We put away no final memories.". . I wouldnt think there was a known soldier in the Tomb of the Unknowns, she recalled thinking. The goal was to schedule the ceremony before Election Day 1984, which is why Memorial Day, rather than Veterans Day, was selected. 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. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. On May 28, 1984, a Third Army Old Guard horse-drawn caisson moved slowly along Constitution Avenue. I dont know any of them. Webb devised an ingenious solution: hide the crash-site artifacts where no one would ever find them, in the casket with the remains of X-26. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. 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 . 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story" To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. 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. 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. She suffered a stroke in 2004 and recently was diagnosed with pneumonia, her family said Thursday. Prior to the identification of his remains, Blassie was the unknown service member . 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. 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. The remains were exhumed in May; DNA tests that were not available 26 years ago confirmed the remains were Blassie's. A fellow airman saw tracer rounds directed toward Mikes A-37. Michael Blassie later received an appointment to the Air Force Academy. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. His body wouldnt be coming home. An Army caisson carried his casket from the Capitol to the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 28, 1984. Today, said President Reagan at the Tomb, we pause to embrace him and all who served so well in a war whose end offered no parades, no flags, and so little thanks. He had been shot down near An Loc, Vietnam, in 1972.. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. The Easter Offensive was the largest and most conventional ground invasion of the Vietnam War. There, a plaque holds words from the Gettysburg Address: "We can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow this ground. 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 pressures of war put a premium on closing cases and moving on, getting the job done even if that meant rushing lab reports. To many Vietnam veterans, Patricia explains, it was pretty upsetting to have the Vietnam Unknown disinterred. It is very austere and moving. 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. 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. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. 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. Today: Cloudy with a chance of sprinkles or flurries. After 26 years, the family of Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, buried the pilot Saturday, ending a painful mystery that began in 1972. Flying bug found at Walmart turns out to be rare Jurassic-era insect Michael Blassie The Final Mission. Armed with the documents, he teamed up with veteran CBS correspondent, Eric Engberg. Failed to delete memorial. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. (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. Its one of the reasons the tomb has become one of the Washington D.C. areas biggest tourist attractions. It represents all soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. The music is an original piece by our talented composer, Sean Real. It may be that forensic science has reached the point where there will be no other unknowns in any war. They never got updates on recovery efforts. 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. Ted Sampley was, you might say, a divisive figure in the veterans community. well, that was simply too much to believe. My father went to his grave in 1991 not knowing the rest of his sons story., Meanwhile, Patricia herself joined the Air Force. Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment, 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story", Garland to face Congress amid ongoing special counsel investigations, Eli Lilly to cut insulin prices by 70%, cap monthly costs at $35, Pandemic-era food benefits end for millions of Americans as costs rise, Three officers shot, standoff follows in Kansas City, Mo., police say, Flying bug found at Walmart turns out to be rare Jurassic-era insect, CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat". They had to do more with less and that meant Michael was going to see a lot of combat. Patricia is on Michaels right (Blassie family). Im curious how the remains werent identifiable as Michael Blassie if he was the only remaining unidentified serviceman from the war. 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. I never dreamed Id never see Michael again., The Blassie siblings, 1961. Subscribe with this special offer to keep reading, (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). (2006): Identification of Human Remains. Yet he was found five months after he was shot down and then buried without our knowledge in the Tomb of the Unknowns. Sampleys words landed like a percussion grenade in the Blassie household. The last day we took him to the airport, Michael looked back at us and waved. After 26 years, the family of Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, buried the pilot Saturday, ending a painful mystery that began in 1972. This is a carousel with slides. } It wasnt until World War I that it occurred to anyone to bury a single unknown soldier in a public setting. During a tour of Vietnam, he served as a member of the 8th Special Operations Squadron. He thought about how terrible it was that so many people were essentially being forgotten they deserved better than that. That day changed the Blassie family forever, she says. Michael Blassie had become a cold statistic of war. Pilots loved itbecause being that close the ground heightened the sense of flight and speed. "The resting place of Michael was for so long the Tomb of the Unknowns," Rigali said. The Blassies went public, calling for DNA tests to prove that the remains were Michaels. Think you're a Top Gun at aircraft identification? Because mtDNA is passed along the maternal line, scientists compared the Unknown Soldier's DNA against two samples submitted by First Lieutenant Blassie's mother and sister and found a match. He connected the dots for the Blassies over the phone. Blassie, a decorated pilot, was 24 when he died in May 1972. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. It sits at the top of a hill that overlooks the rest of Arlington Cemetery. In January 1998, CBS Evening News broke the story: The military had hidden pilot Michael Blassies identity from his family and the public. 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. They denied it. 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. On July 10, 1998, Michael Blassie's body was released to his family. 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. 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