| Unit | 8th Special Operations Squadron |
|---|---|
| Rank | First Lieutenant U.S. Air Force |
| Entered Service From | St. Louis Missouri |
| Date of Death | May 11 1972 |
| Status | Recovered |
| Memorialized |
Courts of the Missing
Court
A
Honolulu Memorial |
1st Lt. Michael Blassie was a member of the 8th Special Operations Squadron. On May 11, 1972, he was the pilot of a Cessna Dragonfly Attack Aircraft (A-37A) on a mission near An Loc, South Vietnam, when his aircraft was hit by hostile fire, crashed and exploded. His remains were recovered on November 2, 1972 and identified on July 8, 1998. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.
For a time, Blassie's remains were designated as the "unknown" service member from the Vietnam War and interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery on May 28, 1984. In 1998, his family secured permission to have his remains disinterred for DNA testing with the hope of Identifying the remains as that of 1st Lt. Blassie. In June 1998 the Department of Defense announced that the remains were indeed Blassie's. Later that summer, he was re-interred in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Following the removal of Blassie's remains from the Tomb of the Unknowns, the marker at Arlington was replaced with one that read "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen."
