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Vietnam War remains exhumed from 'Unknowns' tomb
May 14, 1998
A military color guard carries the coffin
Web posted at: 1:56 p.m. EDT (1756 GMT)In this story:
ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) -- The remains of a U.S. serviceman from the Vietnam War were carefully exhumed from the military's Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery Thursday and taken away after a somber ceremony to be tested for possible identification.
Physical evidence indicates the remains could be those of Air Force pilot 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, who was shot down over An Loc, South Vietnam, in May 1972.
In theory, however, the remains -- the pelvis, right upper arm and four ribs -- could belong to eight other Air Force or Army fighter and helicopter pilots who went down in the An Loc area the same time as Blassie but whose bodies were never found.
Blassie The white marble tomb, located at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, is a monument dedicated to the nation's unidentified war dead and has an honor guard posted 24 hours a day.
'This hallowed ground'
The coffin containing the remains was removed from the ground at 7:50 a.m. Thursday in a recovery operation that started shortly after midnight. The exhumation was conducted, when the cemetery is closed to the public, to maintain the dignity of the site.
The coffin, draped with an American flag, was placed near the tomb to await the public ceremony which was attended later in the morning by hundreds of people, including members of Blassie's family.
More from Cohen. 
306K/27 sec. AIFF or WAV sound "We disturb this hallowed ground with profound reluctance and we take this step only because of our abiding commitment to account for every warrior who fought and died to preserve the freedoms that we cherish," Defense Secretary William Cohen said.
"If advances in technology can ease the lingering anguish of even one family, then our path is clear," he said, "and so we yield today to the promise of science with the hope that the heavy burden of doubt may be lifted from a family's heart."
After the playing of the national anthem a military color guard placed the coffin into a hearse.
More than 2,000 servicemen are listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War Done with dignity
The Pentagon announced last week that the remains of the Vietnam War serviceman placed in the Tomb of the Unknowns in 1984 would be removed in a way to preserve the sanctity of the location.
Private contractors, working at night behind a temporary privacy fence, used a diamond-tipped cutting tool to slice open 10 inches of granite around the marble cover of the Vietnam War crypt. Then a crane lifted the heavy cover and raised the casket out of the tomb.
The marble top was put back on the empty crypt and the fence was removed.
Separate crypts at the tomb containing unidentified remains from World War I, World War II and the Korean War were not disturbed by the exhumation.
Who is it?
The six bones buried in the Vietnam crypt were tentatively identified as Blassie's after they were found by South Vietnamese troops, but later reclassified as unknown when blood and other forensic tests at the time indicated they did not match his blood or body type.
This time, the remains will be tested using modern DNA gene and bone technology in a process that could take up to three months or more.
Forensic and anthropological experts said there was a good chance of solving the mystery, depending on the condition of the remains.
Testing will be done at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory at nearby Rockville, Maryland.
Strobridge Representatives of a Pentagon advisory panel which studied the controversy said in April the remains might be those of Blassie, of St. Louis, Missouri; Army Capt. Rodney Strobridge of Torrance, California, or perhaps one of seven other servicemen also lost in the area in 1972.
Blassie's sister, Pat, has stressed that her brother's identification card and other items such as a parachute were found with the body.
While the Blassie family supported the exhumation and the effort to identify the remains, Strobridge's mother, Althea, who says she talks to her son every day, would have preferred the tomb stay shut. (
Correspondent Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Remains to be exhumed from Tomb of the Unknowns - May 7, 1998
Related sites:
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- Air Force pilot 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie - POW bio page
- The Pentagon
- Tomb Of The Unknowns
- Arlington National Cemetery
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