Read On Hallowed Ground Online
Authors: Robert M Poole
On Hallowed Ground (52 page)
10
. S. 49, “A bill to amend title 38 of the United States Code in order to establish a National Cemetery System within the
Veterans’ Administration, and for other purposes,” June 18, 1973, Library of Congress.
11
. James T. Wooten, “Arlington Crypt Vacant, Awaiting Vietnam ‘Unknown,’” The
New York Times
, May 1, 1976.
12
. Milton J. Bates et al., eds.,
Reporting Vietnam
(New York: The Library of America, 1998), 2:793–99.
13
.
Reporting Vietnam
, 2:798. More than 58,000 military personnel from the United States died in Southeast Asia between 1959 and 1973; some 47,000
of these deaths were the result of hostilities.
14
. Rudy deLeon, former undersecretary of defense, interviewed by author, July 11, 2008; Wooten, “Arlington Crypt”; Caryle
Murphy,“’Unknown’ Was Hard to Find,” The
Washington Post
, May 28, 1984.
15
. Joseph Rehyansky, “The Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War,”
National Review,
June 29, 1984.
16
. “President’s Speech,” DVD, Video Control No. 06270-4T-W308-G50, G52, RRL.
17
. Robert Mann,
Forensic Detective: How I Cracked The World’s Toughest Cases
(New York: Ballantine Books, 2006), 110–20; Department of Defense Briefing, “The Vietnam Unknown Soldier,” May 7, 1998,
www.arlingtoncemetery.net/unk-vn33.htm.
18
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., interviewed by author, June 20, 2008, July 3, 2008; Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author,
July 5, 2007, June 17, 2008, Oct. 8, 2008.
19
. “Now-Identified Vietnam Vet Was ‘A Natural,’ Fellow Soldiers Recall,” The
Washington Post,
June 30, 1998; Department of Defense News Briefing, “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” April 27, 1998,
www.arlingtoncemetery.net/unk-vn46.htm.
20
. “Now-Identified Vietnam Vet Was ‘A Natural.’”
21
. Maj. Jim Connally to Mr. and Mrs. George Blassie, n.d., in Col. Patricia S. Blassie, “Air Force Airman Selected As The
Vietnam Unknown Soldier—The Truth And Its Consequences,” thesis, Jan. 17, 2005, Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama,
Appendix 2, hereafter “Blassie thesis.” One of the Cobra pilots who tried to recover Blassie’s remains on the day of his
crash testified to the intense enemy fire. “I will never forget that day,” he told Charles Cragin, acting assistant secretary
of defense for reserve affairs. The pilot said he had fired 52 rounds of 17-pound rockets while trying to inspect Blassie’s
crash site—and limped back to base with his helicopter’s hydraulic system badly damaged. Blassie’s plane, the pilot testified,
was in “itty-bitty pieces.” Department of Defense News Briefing, “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” April 27, 1998,
www.arlingtoncemetery.net/unk-vn46.htm.
22
. Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author, Oct. 8, 2008.
23
. Maj. Donald E. Lunday, “Memorandum for Record: Body Recovery,” Oct. 31, 1972, and Lunday“Memorandum for Record: Phonecon
with Mr. Rogers, USA Mortuary, TSN,” Nov. 5, 1972, in Blassie thesis, Appendixes 15 and 14; Rudy deLeon, action memorandum
to Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen,“The Vietnam Unknown in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers,” April 23, 1998, RdL Papers;
Department of Defense News Briefing, “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” April 27, 1998,
www.arlingtoncemetery.net/unk-vn46.htm.
24
. “Certificate,” Capt. Richard S. Hess, n.d., detailing delivery of remains of Michael Blassie and evidence to Sgt. First
Class Malcolm R. Biles, at Tan Son Nhut mortuary, Nov. 2, 1972, JW Papers.
25
. DeLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998, RdL Papers.
26
. John C. Rogers, skeletal chart, “BTB Blassie, Michael Joseph,” Central Identification Library, Hawaii, n.d. in Blassie
thesis, Appendix 16.
27
. Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author, Oct. 8, 2008; Mann, 98.
28
. Mann, 95.
29
. Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author, Oct. 8, 2008.
30
.
Reporting Vietnam,
2:793.
31
. Johnie E. Webb, Jr., interviewed by author, June 20, 2008; Mann, 96–98; Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, “History,”
www.jpac.paccom.mil/index.php?page=
mission _overview.
32
. Robert B. Pickering and David Charles Bachman,
The Use of Forensic Anthropology
(Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1987), 5.
33
. Tadao Furue, “Special Anthropological Narrative: Processing of TSN 0673-72, Dec. 4, 1978, in Blassie thesis,” Appendix
16; Mann, 96–98.
34
. Ibid.
35
. Armed Services Graves Registration Office, “TSN 0673-72 BTB Blassie, Michael Joseph,” May 7, 1980, Blassie thesis,” Appendix
20.
36
. Mann, 96–98.
37
. DeLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998.
38
. Mann, 98.
39
. DeLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998.
40
. Ibid.; Rudy deLeon, interviewed by author, July 11, 2008.
41
. Furue, Dec. 4, 1978, in Blassie thesis.
42
. Mann, 98, reports: “From the information available, scientists could neither prove nor disprove that the remains were
Blassie’s.”
43
. Blassie thesis, 30. New evidence was not to be found. The United States dispatched investigative teams from Hawaii in
1992 and 1994 to interview witnesses and search for clues in Blassie’s case. They found nothing—except for a practical-minded
farmer using what was likely the plane’s impact crater as a watering hole. DeLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998.
44
. John O. Marsh Jr., interviewed by author, July 21, 2008.
45
. John O. Marsh Jr. to Caspar W. Weinberger, June 16, 1982, Folder “POW/MIA—Tomb of the Unknown (4),” Box 92409, Richard
Childress Files, RRL.
46
. Ibid.
47
. Ann Mills Griffiths to Caspar W. Weinberger, July 26, 1982, Folder “POW/MIA—Tomb of the Unknown (2),” RAC Box 92409, Richard
Childress Files, RRL.
48
. Richard T. Childress to William P. Clark, Aug. 26, 1982,
www.nationalalliance.org/Blassie/b820826.htm.
49
. Caspar W. Weinberger to William P. Clark, Aug. 23, 1982, Folder “POW/MIA—Tomb of the Unknown (3),” RAC Box 85, Executive
Secretariat, National Security Council: PA: Subject File: Records, RRL.
50
. Carrie Brunosi,
The Sentinel,
3, 3 (Aug.-Oct. 2001); logbook, March 23, 1983, Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery.
51
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., interviewed by author, June 20, 2008; Mann, 102–4. I have withheld the name of X-15 because there
is still debate about whether he was AWOL when killed. In deference to his family, the Army fixed his time of death on July
27, 1970, the day before he was reported as a deserter. This allowed him to be buried with honors—but some investigators remain
convinced that he was, in truth, a deserter.
52
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., interviewed by author, June 20, 2008.
53
. Ibid; Mann, 104–6; deLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998.
54
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., interviewed by author, June 20, 2008; deLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998.
55
. Caspar W. Weinberger to Ronald Reagan, March 16, 1984, Folder “Vietnam (April 1981–Sept. 1984),” RAC Box 11, Executive
Secretariat, NSC: Records: Country File, RRL.
56
. Karen Byrne Kinzey, historian, Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, interviewed by author, April 16, 2006.
57
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., undated memorandum “TSN 0673-72 (X-26)” to Army Personnel Command, JW Papers. In an e-mail to the
author July 22, 2008, Webb says that the memo was sent to Washington in March 1984 and that it went up the chain of command to John O. Marsh Jr., secretary of the Army.
58
. John O. Marsh Jr. interviewed by author, July 21, 2008.
59
. Webb’s warning note about the Vietnam Unknown, from JW Papers, appears below in its entirety:
TSN 0673-72 (X-26)
1. These partial remains consisting of approximately 9 % of the skeletal frame were recovered by Army Recon Team 1/48 from
a plane crash site at Grid Coordinates UTM XT 716-904. Allegedly the team also recovered the ID card for the pilot of this
one man aircraft. However, the ID card did not accompany these remains to the US Army Mortuary, the fate of the ID card has
never been recovered.
2. The remains delivered to the Saigon Mortuary in a Believed to Be (BTB) status as those of the pilot were accompanied by
“cut” remnants of a nomex flight suit, one man inflatable raft, one ammo pouch, remnants of a pistol holster, empty signal
marker pouch, and remnants of a parachute. Attempts to identify these remains has [sic] resulted in disassociation with the
BTB name. Research has led to disassociation with all but two unresolved casualties. Further research has resulted in passive
association with a single casualty. Further physical anthropological evaluation for personal identity is not feasible due
to the absolute paucity of key skeletal elements.
3. These remains should be disqualified for selection as the Unknown because of the past and present name associations.
60
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., interviewed by author, June 20 and July 3, 2008.
61
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., memorandum of certification “Remains of TSN 0673-72 (X-26)” March 21, 1984, JW Papers.
62
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., interviewed by author, June 20, 2008.
63
. Blassie thesis, 28–30.
64
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., “Memo for Record: Documents to Be Removed from X-26 File and Placed in the Blassie File,” from Webb’s
telephone conversation with Lt. Col. David Peixotto, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, April
4, 1984, JW Papers.
65
. Johnie E. Webb Jr., interviewed by author, June 20, 2008.
66
. Ibid.
67
. At the time of ceremonies for Blassie, the U.S.S.
Brewton
was classified as an ocean escort; it was later designated a missile frigate.
68
. “President’s Speech,” DVD, Video Control No. 06270-4T-W308-G52, RRL.
69
. Pat Blassie is now an Air Force colonel working in the Pentagon as executive officer to the chief of the Air Force Reserve.
70
. Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author, July 5, 2007 and Oct. 8, 2008.
71
. Ted Sampley, “The Vietnam Unknown Soldier can be Identified,” U.S.
Veteran Dispatch
, July 14, 1994. A POW/MIA activist, Sampley is not known for journalistic restraint. While his reporting on the Blassie case
has held up, he sometimes sees conspiracies where others do not. During the 2008 presidential election, for example, he happily
spread the discredited rumor that Barack Obama was a secret Muslim and, in a demonstration of his non-partisanship, he expressed
the opinion that Sen. John McCain was a Manchurian candidate controlled by Communists. Jim Rutenberg, “The Man Behind the
Whispers About Obama,” The
New York Times
, Oct. 12, 2008.
72
. Ted Sampley, interviewed by author, June 15, 2007.
73
. Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author, Oct. 8, 2008.
74
. Ibid.; George E. Atkinson, “Memo for Record,” Dec. 20, 1994, in Blassie thesis, Appendix 11.
75
. Mann, 108.
76
. Ted Sampley, interviewed by author, June 15, 2007. Although much of the CBS report was based on research Sampley had shared
with the network, CBS did not credit Sampley’s contribution.
77
. Blassie thesis, 18–19.
78
. “Update: Unknown No Longer,” CBS News,
www .cbsnews
.com/stories/1998/04/07/national/printable6793.shtml.
79
. Blassie Thesis, 19.
80
. Ibid.
81
. Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author, Oct. 8, 2008.
82
. “Vietnam Unknown May Be Air Force pilot,” Jan. 20, 1998,
www.arlingtoncemetery.net/unk-vn04.htm.
83
. Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author, Oct. 8, 2008.
84
. Rudy deLeon, interviewed by author, July 11, 2008; deLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998.
85
. Rudy deLeon, interviewed by author, July 11, 2008.
86
. Ibid.; deLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998.
87
. DeLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998. The task force did not try to fix responsibility for the Reagan administration’s
handling of the Blassie case, which the CBS report described as a politically motivated cover-up. The case might be more fairly
characterized as an instance of good intentions gone awry. As political pressure mounted, Unknown candidates fell off the
list, and Pentagon appointees failed to heed the warning signs in their zeal to deliver an Unknown for President Reagan and
Vietnam veterans. Keeping to the high road, deLeon’s task force gave John Marsh and other Pentagon officials the benefit of
the doubt. “We have no reason to question the decisions reached in 1984 concerning the selection of Vietnam War remains for
interment in the Tomb,” the report said.“Given the limited technology at the time and the information available, the X-26
remains were at that point unidentifiable.” The escape clause, of course, is “at that point,” which did not allow for the
possibility that Blassie might be identified at some future time; this distinction was the basis for Johnie Webb’s objection.
88
. Mann, 112.
89
. Col. Patricia S. Blassie, interviewed by author, Oct. 8, 2008.
90
. Jean and Pat Blassie provided blood samples for the DNA testing, which matched the mitochondrial DNA sequence from Michael
Blassie’s bones. At the time the tests were done, in 1998, the method was relatively new, having been approved only in 1995
as a reliable clinical means of legal identifications. DeLeon, action memorandum, April 23, 1998.