"THEN YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH AND
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE."
Index of documents in our possession relating to the Vietnam Known
Note: These documents were obtained from the Ronald Regan Library, the Library of Congress, and public sources. Page 11 of Duty Log reporting the recovery of remains with identification tag bearing the name Lt. Michael J. Blassie.
Page 12 of Duty Log reporting the recovery of remains with identification tag bearing the name Lt. Michael J. Blassie, along with compasses, radio and a parachute.
Memorandum for Record issued by Acting Chief of the Joint Personnel Recovery Center Reporting the recovery of remains, along with dog tag and identification card bearing the name Michael J. Blassie.
Air Force Position on Selection of Unknown from the Vietnam War. "Of the remains I have viewed at the CILHI not one comes close to the criteria due to the paucity of the recovery (10 - 30%), anthropoligical inconsistencies, lack of absolute anonymity and actual certification of remains as an American serviceman."
November 14, 1981 -- Actual Document Letter to the Secretary of the Army, John O. Marsh, from the Executive Director of the National League of Families. "The National League of Families is opposed to any ceremony at this time, primarily due to the Central Identification Laboratory's findings that there are no qualified remains in U.S. possession.
January 27, 1982 -- Actual Document
Letter to the Executive Director National League of Families from Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh. "I have been advised there are unknown candidate remains still undergoing the identification process."
June 16, 1982 -- Actual Document
Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, from Secretary of the Army Marsh. "We have remains which meet the legal requirements for Unknown."
July 26, 1982 -- Actual Document
Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, Weingberger, from the Executive Director of the National League of Families. "CIL personnel have stated that one of the four remains was recovered in Laos, is not known to be American and the identification may have been narrowed down to one of three individuals. Further, information on two of the other three remains includes dental and restoration data for which CIL has no comparison ability due to incomplete records.... Currently, there are fragmentary remains of only one person which might be considered "unknown." Even in this case, identification could possibly be made if the Vietnamese were requested to investigate the initial recovery site for additional remains or data.
Letter to Secretary of Army Marsh, from Executive Director of the National League of Families. "I was dismayed to learn that Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) personnel had been instructed to shred existing research documents on all four remains now in U.S. possession.... It strongly suggests a conscious effort to obscure or eliminate identification data to meet political objectives.... two of the four remains have now been certified as unidentifiable... Partial remains of one "candidate" includes full upper dental structure, making identification cation highly probable if additional dental records are obtained via the services. On both candidate sets of remains sufficient information is already available to narrow the identification process to a small number of individuals.... The Army's handling of this issue has left me no alternative but to inform the families at the earliest opportunity, knowing that by so doing, years of faith in CIL will be badly shaken and confidence in the Reagan Administration will be seriously called into question....
Memorandum for the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, from Secretary of Defense Weinberger. "... we still have four remains from the Vietnam era which have not been identified. We have progressed to a point where two of the four remains are eliminated from further Unknown consideration, with the remaining two candidates considered as the most qualified..... Opposition has been expressed by the National League of Families, and recently members of your staff have expressed some interest in the subject.
August 26,1982 -- Actual Document
Memorandum from National Security Advisor, Richard Childress to William P. Clark. "At my urging on at least six occasions in the past month, Ann Griffiths has not gone public. She is under increasing pressure to do so as Secretary Marsh's original memo is in the hand of the veteran's groups, Jack Anderson has a copy and has called the League and the Army flag officer has made the rounds to the veteran's groups and the Congress. The League knows the full interment precedent, the state of identification on each set of remains, the fact that records have been shredded and the propensity of the Army to push for early action.
Undated -- Actual Document
Suggested Talking Points, the basis of the above memo. "...We simply can't have the public beleive we created an unknown for interment...."
Letter from National Security Council, Richard Childress to Exexutive Director National League of Families. "I appreciate your inquiry concerning our official positioon on the "Tomb of hte Unknown Soldier" and the need for you to be able to repond accurately to family and media inquires.
April 27, 1983 -- Actual Document
Mortuary Affairs Memo regarding request for informtion on Michael J. Blassie
Letter to Secretary of Army Marsh, from the Executive Director of the National League of Families. "It is my firm belief that efforts are now legitimately being pursued and as I have repeatedly made clear, the League has no opposition to interment in the Tomb of the Unknown, providing remains interred are not identifiable by the Army's Central Identification Laboratory.
Memorandum for the President from Secretary of Defense Weinberger. "In 1982 we began an intensive effort to determine whether any of the remains in our possession are qualified candidates for the Vietnam Unknown. We concluded that we have one set of remains which cannot be identified and which, although not as complete as we would like, meets the legal requirements for the Vietnam Unknown and therefore is qualified.
March 21, 1984 -- Actual Document
Certification of Remains of TSN 0673-72 (X-26) as unidentifiable, signed by Johnie E. Webb, Jr.
April 4, 1984 -- Actual Document
Memo For Record, signed by Johnie E. Webb Jr. "Documents to be Removed from X-26 File and Placed in the Blassie File."
Capt. Richard Hess -- Actual Document
"Certificate" - "basic characteristics I remember about ID Card: Name Blassie, Michael Joseph, 1LT, 6 foot 200 lbs picture showed him with mustache, dark hair.
Letter from Ann Hart, Acting Chairman of the Board of the National League of Families, to President Ronald. "... We believe the crypt for the unknown serviceman from the Vietnam War should remain empty until the fullest possible accounting has been achieved."
Memorandum from Assistant Secretary of the Army William Gianelli to Secretary of the Army Marsh. "Attached is a memorandum to Cap Weinberger informing him of the recent decision of the Board of Directors of the National League of Families (NLF) not to support the interment of a Vietnam Unknown.
Memorandum for Secretary of Defense Weinberger from Secretary of Army Marsh. "Prior to the public announcement, we fully briefed and coordinated the Vietnam Unknown decision with the Executive Director of the National League of Families (NLF) . While she believes we are proceeding properly, the Board of Directors has decided not to support the interment. Their decision was based largely an the belief that the interment will result in a reduction of effort concerning the POW/MIAS.
National Security Council Memorandum for Robert C. McFarlane from Richard Childress. "Despite our work to ensure the interment process was done correctly, Ann Griffiths' lobbying of the League Board and Secretary Marsh's call to the Board Chairman, Earl Hopper (who agreed it was fine), the Board voted by a majority to register opposition.
Memoandum for the President from Robert C. McFarlane. "We brought Ann Griffiths, the Executive Director of the League in Washington, into the technical process and she is satisfied in this regard. The Secretary of the Army spoke to the Chairman of the Board of the League prior to the public announcement. He approved and believed that the Board would also approve. Subsequently, the Board itself led by Anne Hart voted by a majority to oppose interment and sent the letter at Tab B."
Letter from the President to Ann Hart. "I hope the League will find it is in their interest, as I beleive it is to join us in an act of national unity that will spark greater public awareness that the Vietnam War is not behind us without the fullest possible accounting for our men."
A Missing Plane by Susan Sheehan - Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons. Copyright (c) 1986 by Susan Sheehan. This usage granted by permission. "...The fourth remains at the CIl at the beginning of 1984 had been found by a South Vietnamese Army reconnaisance team in late 1972 near a town about 60 miles north of Saigon..."
Message from Tom Perry, Air Force Casualty to Johnie Webb and Joe Hartsell. "CBS National Reporter was going to run a story on 60 minutes (or possibly some other CBS news show) sometime around the end of this month and the story was going to state their reporter has strong evidence that 1Lt. Michael J. Blassie was buried in the Tomb of the Unknown, in Arlington Cemetery and that the government had a pretty good idea that these remains are Lt. Blassie's when the decision was made.... if this story hits the airwaves it will cause a lot of problems over the issue of disinterment, not only regarding the Tomb of the Unknown, but regarding the Punchbowl in Hawaii.
Memo for the Record, Mark Blair. "...call Johnie Webb at the CIL-HI (808) 448-8903. I asked Mr. Webb if in fact when the BTB ID of Lt. Blassie was rescinded did those remains then become X-26 and were they eventually interred in the tomb of the unknown? He answered yes, he also stated that he feels this will get very complicated and messy before it is resolved. He has some concerns as well since he is the last of those involved with the decision to inter X-26 as the unknown still working for the Govt or even alive.
Memorandum for Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Prepared by LTC Martin Wisda. "BACKGROUND: The family of USAF lst LT. Michael Blassie believes the remains of their son, lost over An Loc in 1972 and listed as MIA, are the remains interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns for the Vietnam War. They have asked for disinterment and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing. A growing number of families, veterans groups, and member of Congress have publicly and privately expressed support for the Blassie family's request for disinterment and testing if there is reason to believe those remains could be Lt. Blassie. The Executive Director of the National League of Families, however, adamantly opposes such action.
Tomb of The Unknown Holds My Brother, by Pat Blassie
Fact Sheet: Vietnam War Tomb of the Unknowns, June 12, 1998, prepared by the National League of Familes. "Once fully briefed, the 1983-84 Leaague Board of Directors supported interment..."
Memorandum from Principal Deputy Under Secretary Charles L. Cragin. Subject: Identification of Remains Disinterred from Tomb of Vietnam Unknown. "Secretary Cohen advised Mrs. Blassie that the results of the testing reported a match between the mtDNA sequence obtained from the remains and the family reference sample provided by the Blassie family. He advised her that these results were reported to the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) and represented only one piece of the evidence considered by CILHI in recommending an identification. CILHI also considered anthropological and circumstantial evidence...
News Release - Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen's Statement Concerning the Identification of the Vietnam Unknown. "...After successful mitochondrial DNA comparison and forensic examination using state-of-the-art technology not available in 1984, the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory has determined that the remains interred in 1984 as the Vietnam Unknown are those of U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie.
Letter from Ann Hart, wife of POW/MIA Thomas Hart and member of the Board of Directors, National League of Families 1983-1984. "I read the "Fact.Sheet" concerning the Tomb Of the Unknowns and was disappointed to find the "League" continues to misrepresent the truth to families and to the public. Page three of the "Fact Sheet", noted the 1983-84 Board of Directors supported the interment of remains in the Tomb. Ann, you and I were both present at that meeting and ... "the Board voted by majority to register opposition." That quote is taken directly from a memorandum to Robert C. McFarlane from Richard Childress. As you recall Ann, the Board specifically told you you could not attend this ceremony."
October 31, 1972 -- Actual Document
October 31, 1972 -- Actual Document
October 31, 1972 -- Actual Document
April 22 1981 -- Actual Document