QUARANTINE BLOG # 499

August 11, 2021

On March 4, 1921, the United States Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American serviceman from World War I in the plaza of the Memorial Amphitheater. On November 11, 1921, the unknown soldier brought back from France was interred below a three-level marble tomb.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as of November 11, 1922.

On Memorial Day, 1921, four unknown servicemen were exhumed from four World War I American cemeteries in France.  U.S. Army Sgt. Edward F. Younger, who was wounded in combat, highly decorated for valor and received the Distinguished Service Cross selected the Unknown of World War I from four identical caskets at the city hall in Châlons-en-Champagne, France, on October 24, 1921.  Younger selected the World War I Unknown by placing a spray of white roses on one of the caskets.  The chosen Unknown was transported to the United States aboard USS Olympia.  Those remaining were interred in the Meuse Argonne Cemetery, France.

The World War I Unknown arriving at the Washington Navy Yard.

The World War I Unknown lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda from his arrival in the United States until Armistice Day, 1921.  On November 11, 1921, President Warren G. Harding officiated at the interment ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery.  During the ceremony, the World War I Unknown was awarded the Victoria Cross by Admiral of the Fleet Lord Beatty, on behalf of King George V of the United Kingdom.

On August 3, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill to select and pay tribute to the Unknowns of World War II and the Korean War.  The selection ceremonies and the interment of these Unknowns took place in 1958. 

Two Unknowns from World War II, one from the European Theater and one from the Pacific Theater, were placed in identical caskets and taken aboard USS Canberra, a guided-missile cruiser, and placed on either side of the Korean unknown.  Navy Hospital Corpsman 1st Class William R. Charette, then the U.S. Navy’s only active-duty Medal of Honor recipient who was an enlisted man, selected the right-hand casket as the World War II Unknown.  The casket of the remaining WWII unknown received a solemn burial at sea.

Corpsman 1st Class Charette selects a coffin for burial in the World War II Tomb of the Unknown from the two coffins representing World War II (Pacific and European theaters) resting on each side of the Korean unknown.

The Korean Unknown had been selected from four unknown Americans who died in the Korean War that were disinterred from the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. Army Master Sergeant Ned Lyle made the final selection.  The unselected Unknowns were re-interred there.

The caskets of the WWII & Korean unknowns arrived in Washington on May 28, 1958, where they lay in the Capitol Rotunda until the morning of May 30, when they were carried on caissons to Arlington National Cemetery.  President Eisenhower awarded each the Medal of Honor, and the Unknowns of World War II and the Korean War were interred in the plaza beside their World War I comrade.

Last rites for the Unknowns of World War II and the Korean War at Arlington National Cemetery.

The Vietnam Unknown service member was originally designated by Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Allan Jay Kellogg, Jr., during a ceremony at Pearl Harbor.

Allan Jay Kellogg Jr. (born October 1, 1943) is a retired sergeant major in the United States Marine Corps. He received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions as a staff sergeant on March 11, 1970, during the Vietnam War.

Many Vietnam veterans and President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan visited the Vietnam Unknown in the U.S. Capitol.  An Army caisson carried the Vietnam Unknown from the Capitol to the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 28, 1984.  President Reagan presided over the funeral, and presented the Medal of Honor to the Vietnam Unknown, and also acted as next of kin by accepting the interment flag at the end of the ceremony. 

The Unknown Service Member from the Vietnam War being buried on May 28, 1984.

In 1994, Ted Sampley, a POW/MIA activist, determined that the remains of the Vietnam Unknown were likely those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, who was shot down in 1972.  Based on mitochondrial DNA testing, Department of Defense scientists confirmed the remains were those of Blassie.  

1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie

The identification was announced on June 30, 1998, and on July 10, Blassie’s remains arrived home to his family in St. Louis, Missouri.  He was reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery on July 11.

The grave site of Michael Blassie.

On May 11, 1972, at age 24, Michael Blassie’s A-37B Dragonfly aircraft was shot down near An Loc, about 60 miles north of Saigon.  Immediate recovery attempts were launched, but Blassie had crashed in an area controlled by enemy forces so it was impossible to examine the crash site.  Five months later, during a sweep of the area, a South Vietnamese Army patrol recovered a pelvis, an upper arm bone, and some ribs, as well as the remnants of a flight suit, a life raft, pieces of a parachute, and part of a USAF holster.  The remains and associated materials were eventually turned over to the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii for analysis and identification.  They were initially classified as belonging to Lt. Blassie.  However, analysis at the time suggested that the remains were not a compelling match to Blassie’s age and height.  With the conflicting information between the forensic analysis and the physical evidence, the remains were designated as “Unknown” and assigned the number “X-26.”

Using the advances in Mitochondrial DNA testing, a sample from his mother, Jean, and his sister were tested, and the remains were confirmed to be those of 1st Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie.

The slab over the crypt that once held the remains of the Vietnam Unknown has since been replaced.  The original inscription of “Vietnam” has been changed to “Honoring and Keeping Faith with America’s Missing Servicemen” as a reminder of the commitment of the Armed Forces to the fullest possible accounting of missing service members.  It was decided that the crypt would remain vacant.

Tomorrow I’ll conclude this series with a presentation of the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown.  But for now, three more paragraphs.

“In the three major wars since – the Persian Gulf war and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan – there has not been a single unknown soldier, and only one combatant has been listed as missing in action: Capt. Michael Speicher, who was shot down over Iraq in 1991.  His remains were recovered from the Iraqi desert in August 2009 and returned to his family.

“The sad reality is that there will likely be new recruits for Arlington’s ranks, now 300,000 strong.  Though all losses are painful, perhaps we can take some consolation in the knowledge that the names of those who will sacrifice so much are unlikely to go unknown” (Robert M. Poole, On Hallowed Ground: The Story of Arlington National Cemetery).

Looking for words to close today I read these words by Lee Greenwood, and listened again to the song – with tears streaming down my face.  “And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.  And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.”  Click on the link, listen again to the song, and give thanks for our freedom, purchased with our dearest blood.

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