michael joseph blassie family

Jean Blassie called the family together for a round-the-table discussion. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. In the early 1990s, Blassie's family received word that his remains might be buried in the Tomb of the Unknown. But his tactics were confrontational and often involved outrageous claims and conspiracy theories. memorial page for 1LT Michael Joseph Blassie (4 Apr 1948-11 May 1972), Find a Grave Memorial ID 4245, citing Jefferson Barracks National . "The resting place of Michael was for so long the Tomb of the Unknowns," Rigali said. On March 21, 1984, Webb reluctantly signed. Patricia is on Michaels right (Blassie family). It was on one of these bombing runs, shortly before Calhoon arrived in An Loc, that Michael Blassie flew his 132th and final mission. 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. 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. In the early 1980s, officials chose the set of remains coded "X-26" to be interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns. 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. Armed with the documents, he teamed up with veteran CBS correspondent, Eric Engberg. Your donations are vital to keeping us independent and strong! She attended Wellston High School but left after three years to work as a nurses aide at DePaul Hospital. Articles in U.S. 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. Blassie died when his A-37B Dragonfly was shot down near An Lc in what was then South Vietnam. Its like the reverse of this 99pi story! All Rights Reserved. Scientists at CIL-HI estimated the deceaseds age to be between 26-33 years and height between 65.2-71.5 inches. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. The body will be cremated and her remains buried at Calvary Cemetery with her parents and grandparents. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. 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. display: none; That single set of remains was known only as X-26, but his actual name was Michael Blassie. In my 17-year-old mind, that sounded like a good deal.. I want to bring my son home.. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button. ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. They may have received last rights, families informed, etc, but the rest of us know little about those individuals. Id left school early that day, and I looked out the window when I heard a car door slam. Dubbed the super-tweet it was designed to fly low over its target. The nature of combat in Vietnam and advances in forensic medicine had made it difficult for officials to bury a Vietnam unknown. She was 90 and had been a longtime Florissant resident before moving to Mary Queen and Mother Center in St. Louis. 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. The Blassie family watches as their family member Michael, is unloaded from a C-130 Hercules cargo plane, July 10. Learn more about merges. Blassie was declared missing in action and presumed dead. Blassie's remains, which had been buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns for 14 years, were identified last month by DNA testing. First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie, 24, was shot down over South Vietnam in 1972 and presumed dead. That single set of remains was known only as X-26, but his actual name was Michael Blassie. Thanks Dennis! Check out member benefits and perks . 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. Gonzales began filing FOIA requests and eventually got back a thick envelope with military documents showing the entire process of the Unknown Soldier selection process. Captain Parnell wrapped the remains, and the other items found at the crash site, in plastic and held them overnight. display: none; Michael Blassies C-37 Dragonfly was part of that defense flying support for allied South Vietnamese ground units. First Lieutenant Michael Joseph Blassie (April 4, 1948 - May 11, 1972) was an officer in the United States Air Force. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Michaels plane had crashed deep in North Vietnamese held territory. Of those, 470 are considered non-recoverable. That is, death has been determined, but no remains can be recovered. Oops, we were unable to send the email. Mike always knew what he wanted, I didnt. The Medal of Honor bestowed upon him as the Vietnam Unknown was not transferred to Blassie after his remains were identified.[6]. Blassie was then listed as "killed in action, no body recoverd." 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? .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { 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 . Michael Blassie The Final Mission. I think that barring a complete abolition of war, this is a small consolation. Blassie, said Ted, I believe your son is in the Tomb of the Unknown.. I signed up the next day. One British chaplain named David Railton saw some of the worst of the fighting on the front lines. How much do you know about the founding of the U.S. Army? 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. With the invention of the polymerase chain reaction in 1985, DNA analysis moved to the forefront of forensic technologies. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. From top left to bottom right: dog tag chain fragment, signal marker pouch, match holder, parachute survival guide, and ammunition pouch. St. Louis native Michael Blassie was the picture of an ideal young Air Force officer: tall, handsome, with a hospitable grin and approachable demeanor. No one knows how many remains from Vietnam and elsewhere were buried in the wrong graves because of these flawed identification procedures. 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. Theyre too upsetting. Visit the digital memorial page of Veteran Michael Joseph Blassie where you can share stories, photos, biographies, obituaries, tributes and more. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Try again. We believe Michael would have been proud of how we pulled together to bring him home. Year should not be greater than current year. Michael Joseph Blassie was born on April 4, 1948. 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. She took on the military, won, and brought him back for burial in his hometown of St. Louis. Required fields are marked *, 99% Invisible My father went to his grave in 1991 not knowing the rest of his sons story., Meanwhile, Patricia herself joined the Air Force. 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. In World War I there were around 1,648 Unknowns, in World War II there were 8,526, the Korean war there were 848. 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. 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. 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. We wanted to know the rest of the story. . Human beings have copies of DNA from each biological parent, stored in the nucleus of every cell. I dont care what happened, but the documents showed that patrol went into Michaels crash site to find him, and they did. When they came back, they handed Michael Blassies remains toCalhoon. Id also remind them that Michael was never an Unknown Soldier. He was shot down and killed while piloting his A-37B Dragonfly aircraft in the vicinity of An Loc, in South Vietnam. 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. [3] After Blassie's family secured permission, the remains were exhumed on May 14, 1998. He told her that he had been researching who was shot down on the date of Michaels death and he believed that her brothers remains were in the Tomb of the Unknowns. For the Blassie family and the country as a whole, this is a very difficult time. An Army band played mournfully while 21-gun salutes cracked in the distance. After petitioning the United States Government for permission, his family had his body exhumed. Im a former Soldier from Australia, and a Tour Guide around Europe, and i immediately thought of all the different changing of the guards, and unknown Tombs i have visited. The Blassies didnt know Sampley. The bones were taken to the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, where officials said they were "believed to be" those of Blassie. After Blassie's family secured permission, the remains of Blassie were exhumed on May 14, 1998. 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. Michael Blassie and T-38 jet trainer (Blassie family). 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. Test your Navy knowledge with this Navy history quiz by Military.com. 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. The recruiters said if I joined the Air Force, Id travel, get excellent training,and an education. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) differs from nuclear DNA because human beings inherit mtDNA solely from the mother and share this information with siblings and maternal relatives. You grow apart sometimes during this kind of tragedy. But in 1956, one small, seemingly innocent change to the formula of the Unknown would prove problematic: we began to add another set of unidentified remains for every subsequent 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. DNA tests confirmed that the previously unknown soldier was, in fact, Michael Blassie. 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. There was an error deleting this problem. Advances made since the early 1980s had made it possible to identify the remains, which consisted of only six bones -- far below the usual 80 percent of a corpse required for burial at Arlington. Please reset your password. Its one of the reasons the tomb has become one of the Washington D.C. areas biggest tourist attractions. CBS Evening News went public with the explosive story in a broadcast on January 19, 1998. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. She suffered a stroke in 2004 and recently was diagnosed with pneumonia, her family said Thursday. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. They must have never actually been there. In celebration of the Marine Corps' birthday, Military.com has put together this Marine Corps history quiz. 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