The airman whose remains were exhumed from the Tomb of the Unknowns is Michael J. Blassie, an Air Force pilot shot down in the Vietnam War.
The identification, made after the remains were restudied using DNA analysis, was made public in a Pentagon telephone call to the family of another serviceman whose remains officials thought might be in the tomb.
The official who called “just said they had got the results back and that the body was Blassie’s,” said Althea Strobridge, the mother of Captain Rodney Strobridge.
No member of the Blassie family was immediately available for comment.
Pentagon officials said an announcement was expected Tuesday.
Both Blassie and Strobridge were shot down on May 11, 1972, around An Loc.
The Pentagon said circumstantial evidence, including identification and gear from a plane like Blassie’s A-37 fighter, were found with the remains, but initial blood- and body-type evidence – which his family later questioned – suggested the remains were not his.
That is why his identification was ruled out years ago, military officials said.
Blassie’s family had pressed for the exhumation, saying they were convinced it was their relative laid to rest at the tomb 14 years ago.
“We’re waiting and preparing for him to come home,” his mother, Jean Blassie, said two weeks ago after the Pentagon announced a good DNA sample had been recovered.
In Perry, Iowa, Mrs. Strobridge said the news brought mixed emotions.
“He’s still MIA,” missing in action, she said of her son, who had been an Army helicopter pilot. “I don’t know whether to cry or be happy. I didn’t know I would feel this way.”
Pentagon officials had indicated that Strobridge and Blassie were the mostly candidates for identification.
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Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.
Reviewed by: Michael Howard