Until July 18, 1979, no special commemoration was held to honor America’s POW/MIAs, those returned and those still missing and unaccounted for from our nation’s wars.  That first year, resolutions were passed in Congress and the national ceremony was held at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC.   A Missing Man Formation was flown by the 1st Tactical Squadron, Langley AFB, Virginia.  The Veterans Administration published a poster with the letters “POW/MIA” and that format was continued until 1982, when a black and white drawing of a POW in harsh captivity was used to convey the urgency of the situation and the priority that President Ronald Reagan assigned to achieving the fullest possible accounting for Americans still missing from the Vietnam War.  For the next ten years, the various renditions of the American Eagle, by artist and Vietnam Veteran Tom Nielsen, came to symbolize America’s POW/MIAs and our nation’s determination to account for them and bring them home.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day legislation was introduced yearly until 1995 when Congress opted to discontinue considering legislation to designate special commemorative days.  Since then, successive Presidents have signed an annual proclamation.  In the early years, the date was routinely set in close proximity to the League’s annual meetings.  In the mid-1980’s, the American Ex-POWs decided that they wished to see the date established as April 9th, the date during World War II when the largest number of Americans were captured.  As a result, legislation advocated by the American Ex-POWs was passed covering two years, July 20, 1984, as initially proposed, and April 9, 1985, the latter of which had to be cancelled due to inclement weather, a concern that had been expressed with the proposed April 9th date.

The 1984 National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony was held at the White House, hosted by President Reagan.  At this most impressive ceremony, the Reagan Administration balanced the focus to honor all returned POWs and renew national commitment to accounting as fully as possible for those still missing.  Perhaps the most impressive Missing Man Formation ever flown was that year, up the Ellipse and directly over the White House.

Subsequently, in an effort to accommodate all returned POWs and all Americans still missing and unaccounted for from all wars, the League proposed the third Friday in September, a date not associated with any particular war, not in conjunction with any organization’s national convention, and a time of year when weather nationwide is usually moderate.  Most national ceremonies have been held at the Pentagon; however, in addition to the July 20, 1984, White House ceremony noted above, the September 19, 1986, national ceremony was held on the steps of the US Capitol facing the National Mall, also concluding with a flight of high performance military aircraft in Missing Man Formation.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremonies are now held throughout the nation and around the world on military installations, ships at sea, state capitols, at schools, churches, national veteran and civic organizations, police and fire departments, fire stations, etc.  The League’s POW/MIA flag is flown, and the focus is to ensure that America remembers its responsibility to stand behind those who serve our nation and do everything possible to account for those who do not return.

Information courtesy of the National League of POW/MIA Families

National POW/MIA Recognition Day – 2020 from Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund on Vimeo.

U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was once known as the Vietnam War “Unknown Soldier”.

On Memorial Day in 1984, a set of unidentified remains were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns, alongside remains of service members from WWI, WWII and the Korean War at Arlington National Cemetery. Those “unknown” remains, later identified as Michael Blassie, became representative of those who remained unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.

On May 11, 1972, Blassie was flying an A-37B Dragonfly aircraft when it was hit by ground fire near An Loc, 60 miles outside of Saigon. His wingman witnessed an explosion and there was no indication that Blassie survived. Blassie was then listed as missing-in-action for more than a decade. He was 24 years old. Blassie’s remains were taken “home” to the United States in 1984 but they were not positively identified, and instead were interred at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Forensic technology was limited at the time, preventing positive identification.

Michael Blassie was born on April 4, 1948, in St. Louis, Missouri to George and Jean Blassie. He was the oldest of five children. In 1970, Blassie graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and went on to serve as a 1st Lieutenant with the 8th Special Operations Squadron in Vietnam.

Recovery of Blassie’s crash site took nearly six months after bone fragments, an ID card, and a radio were found at the crash site. While the remains found at the crash site were initially identified as Blassie’s, forensic miscalculations about the height and weight of the bones caused them to be reclassified as unknown and labeled “X-26.”

In a ceremony at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on May 17, 1984, X-26 was officially classified as the remains of the “Unknown Soldier” from Vietnam and sent to the United States aboard the U.S.S. Brewton.

The remains were then sent to Travis Air Force Base on May 24, and arrived at Andrews Air Force Base the following day. Many Vietnam veterans, President Ronald Reagan, and First Lady Nancy Reagan visited X-26 as he lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda for three days. On Memorial Day, May 28, 1984, X-26 was escorted to Arlington National Cemetery. A funeral was held and President Ronald Reagan presented the Medal of Honor to the Vietnam Unknown. The President also accepted the interment flag at the end of the ceremony.

Ten years later in 1994, a former Army Green Beret Ted Sampley called the Blassie family and said he had written an article for the Vietnam veterans’ newsletter proving that Blassie was buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Media attention increased around Blassie and on Jan. 19, 1998, the CBS Evening News aired the story. Air Force Lt. Michael J. Blassie WAS the Vietnam Unknown buried in Arlington Cemetery, Eric Engberg reported. The military for years had used the secrecy of the selection process, he claimed, to hide Blassie’s identity from his family and the public.

After Blassie’s family secured permission and petitioned the Department of Defense to open the site and conduct DNA testing, the remains of X-26 were exhumed on May 14, 1998. As a result of mitochondrial DNA testing, scientists were able to match X-26’s DNA to Michael Blassie’s mother and oldest sister.

On June 30, 1998, the Defense Department announced that the Vietnam Unknown had been identified.

At the request of the family, Blassie’s remains were removed from the Tomb of the Unknowns.  On July 11, 1998, 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was buried with full military honors in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Missouri.

While X-26 was awarded the Medal of Honor when he was interred in the Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington National Cemetery, it was rescinded when the remains were identified as Michael Blassie.

Michael Blassie’s name is inscribed on Panel 1W, Line 23 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Many items have been left at The Wall to honor and remember those still Missing in Action – including one of the largest items ever left at The Wall – the “Wisconsin Hero Bike.” Referred to as simply the “Hero Bike” or the “Wisconsin Rolling Memorial,” this custom-built chopper motorcycle was conceived in honor of the 37 Wisconsin service members listed by the Department of Defense as MIA at the time of production.

Spearheaded by members of the “Bike for The Wall Committee,” a group of Wisconsin Vietnam veterans and motorcycle enthusiasts, construction on the bike began in Wisconsin in June 1994 with donations of cash and parts from supporters throughout the state. The bike is tagged with a license plate reading, “HERO,” a plate registered in April 1994 to the people of Wisconsin. In design, the chopper incorporates the names of each of the ‘Wisconsin 37’ in the paint schemes. A commemorative dog tag for each of the honored Wisconsin MIAs is also affixed to the frame of the bike. No one is permitted to sit on or to ride the Hero Bike until each of the ‘Wisconsin 37’ can be accounted for and their fates made known.

As a part of Rolling Thunder VIII / Run To The Wall ’95 the bike left Wisconsin on May 25th and reached The Wall in Washington, D.C. on May 27th where it remained on public display for three days during the Memorial Day holiday. On May 29, 1995, the bike was delivered to the National Park Service’s Museum Resource Center and was formally accessioned into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection of items left at The Wall.

Unlike previous wars, the families of prisoners of war and missing service members organized to ensure their loved ones would not be left behind. POW/MIA bracelets were created to bring attention to the issue and have been worn by millions with bracelets being created for subsequent wars. These bracelets represent men who eventually came home alive, those whose remains have been recovered and repatriated, and those we have yet to find and whose families continue to wait.

POW/MIA bracelets are part of VVMF’s The Wall That Heals exhibit, along with a Life magazine from 1972 featuring Valerie Kushner, whose husband was POW U.S. Army Harold Kushner. At the time of publication, more than 2,600men were missing or had been captured in Southeast Asia. Valerie Kushner worked diligently with others to bring attention to the POW/MIA families.

Callie Wright, VVMF’s Director of Education, talks to students at The Wall That Heals about POW/MIA bracelets, their significance, and who they honor.

The following historical information was written by Carol Bates Brown, one of the originators:

I was the National Chairman of the POW/MIA Bracelet Campaign for VIVA (Voices In Vital America), the Los Angeles based student organization that produced and distributed the bracelets during the Vietnam War. Entertainers Bob Hope and Martha Raye served with me as honorary co-chairmen.

The idea for the bracelets was started by a fellow college student, Kay Hunter, and me, as a way to remember American prisoners of war suffering in captivity in Southeast Asia. In late 1969, television personality Bob Dornan (who several years later was elected to the US Congress) introduced us and several other members of VIVA to three wives of missing pilots. They thought our student group could assist them in drawing public attention to the prisoners and missing in Vietnam. The idea of circulating petitions and letters to Hanoi demanding humane treatment for the POWs was appealing, as we were looking for ways college students could become involved in positive programs to support US soldiers without becoming embroiled in the controversy of the war itself. The relatives of the men were beginning to organize locally, but the National League of POW/MIA Families had yet to be formed.

During that time, Bob Dornan wore a bracelet he had obtained in Vietnam from hill tribesmen, which he said always reminded him of the suffering the war had brought to so many. We wanted to get similar bracelets to wear to remember US POWs, so rather naively, we tried to figure out a way to go to Vietnam. Since no one wanted to fund two sorority-girl types on a tour to Vietnam during the height of the war, and our parents were livid at the idea, we gave up and Kay Hunter began to check out ways to make bracelets. Soon other activities drew her attention and she dropped out of VIVA, leaving me, another student Steve Frank, and our adult advisor, Gloria Coppin, to pursue the POW/MIA awareness program.

The major problem was that VIVA had no money to make bracelets, although our advisor was able to find a small shop in Santa Monica that did engraving on silver used to decorate horses. The owner agreed to make 10 sample bracelets. I can remember us sitting around in Gloria Coppin’s kitchen with the engraver on the telephone, as we tried to figure out what we would put on the bracelets. This is why they carried only name, rank and date of loss, since we didn’t have time to think of anything else.

Armed with sample bracelets, we set out to find someone who would donate money to make bracelets for distribution to college students. It had not yet occurred to us that adults would want to wear them, as they weren’t very attractive. Several approaches to Ross Perot were rebuffed, including a proposal that he loan us $10,000 at 10% interest. We even visited Howard Hughes’ senior aides in Las Vegas. They were sympathetic but not willing to help fund our project. Finally in late summer of 1970, Gloria Coppin’s husband donated enough brass and copper to make 1,200 bracelets. The Santa Monica engraver agreed to make them and we could pay him from any proceeds we might realize.

Although the initial bracelets were going to cost about 75 cents to make, we were unsure about how much we should ask people to donate to receive a bracelet. In 1970, a student admission to the local movie theater was $2.50. We decided this seemed like a fair price to ask from a student for one of the nickel-plated bracelets. We also made copper ones for adults who believed they helped their “tennis elbow”. Again, according to our logic, adults could pay more, so we would request $3.00 for the copper bracelets.

At the suggestion of local POW/MIA relatives, we attended the National League of Families annual meeting in Washington, DC in late September. We were amazed at the interest from the wives and parents in having their man’s name put on bracelets and in obtaining them for distribution. Bob Dornan, who was always a champion of the POW/MIAs and their families, continued to publicize the issue on his Los Angeles television talk show and promoted the bracelets.

On Veterans Day, November 11, 1970, we officially kicked off the bracelet program with a news conference at the Universal Sheraton Hotel. Public response quickly grew and we eventually got to the point we were receiving over 12,000 requests a day. This also brought money in to pay for brochures, bumper stickers, buttons, advertising and whatever else we could do to publicize the POW/MIA issue. We formed a close alliance with the relatives of missing men – they got bracelets from us on consignment and could keep some of the money they raised to fund their local organizations. We also tried to furnish these groups with all the stickers and other literature they could give away.

While Steve Frank and I ended up dropping out of college to work for VIVA full time to administer the bracelet and other POW/MIA programs, none of us got rich off the bracelets. VIVA’s adult advisory group, headed by Gloria Coppin, was adamant that we would not have a highly paid professional staff. As I recall the highest salary was $15,000 a year and we were able to keep administrative costs to less than 20 percent of income.

In all, VIVA distributed nearly five million bracelets and raised enough money to produce untold millions of bumper stickers, buttons, brochures, matchbooks, newspaper ads, etc., to draw attention to the missing men. In 1976, VIVA closed its doors. By then the American public was tired of hearing about Vietnam and showed no interest in the POW/MIA issue.

Information courtesy of the National League of POW/MIA Families