{ "id": "1999-june-naming-the-unknown", "slug": "1999-june-naming-the-unknown", "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-june-naming-the-unknown.html", "year": 1999, "month": "June", "monthNum": 6, "headline": "Naming the unknown", "kicker": "USING MILITARY DATABASES, WEB SITES AND LISTSERVES", "author_name": "Dawn Fallik", "author_title": "NICAR Staff", "affiliation": "NICAR", "summary": "Sampley's investigation led to the exhumation and identification of the Vietnam-era Unknown Soldier using military databases, revealing him to be Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie.", "keywords": [ "military", "database", "investigation" ], "topics": [ "Investigative Methods", "Data & Databases", "Government & Politics" ], "technologies": [ "Internet", "Email" ], "full_text": "Every day hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists gather at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington D.C. to watch the changing of the guard and honor the memory of unknown men who died in battle. So when CBS reporter Vince Gonzales began investigating whether the tomb's Vietnam era Unknown Soldier had been identified by military officials before being buried, he treaded softly around both memories and rituals. One officer told us 'He's not a human being anymore, he's a symbol,' said Gonzales. The initial seven-month investigation involved multiple military databases as well as Internet archives and personal interviews. Four months after the first story aired, the Pentagon ordered the soldier's body exhumed from the tomb. When DNA tests proved the unknown soldier was indeed decorated Air Force Lt. Michael Joseph Blassie, his St. Louis family reclaimed their son's body and buried him with his own tombstone. Military listservs Gonzales said he began investigating the story after seeing an Internet posting by Ted Sampley, a reporter for U.S. Veteran Dispatch. Sampley's story described how documents pointed to Blassie and suggested that DNA testing could be used to confirm the suspicion. Gonzales went further, using interviews, documents and databases as confirmation until the government was forced to unearth the tomb's soldier. 'At first I thought it was another one of those Internet conspiracies,' he said. But as he started looking into the details of the Unknown Soldier selection process and talking to the individuals involved, Gonzales was convinced Blassie's body was beneath the tomb. Without mentioning the words 'tomb' or 'unknown,' Gonzales quietly began requesting documents regarding Blassie, a 24-year-old pilot killed on May 11, 1972 during a mission. He requested all documents, including forensic reports, squadron logs and e-mail records that mentioned Blassie's name. During the investigation, Gonzales sent more than 20 FOIA requests to every branch of the Department of Defense as well as the U.S. Department of State and many others. He received documents from almost all of the requests. Searching National Archives In addition, the reporter turned to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. for electronic database help. 'We asked the Center for Electronic Records for the National Archives to run several searches for us on databases we didn't have. They were really intrigued by the project and so they helped us out a lot,' Gonzales said. The center does charge for searches, and the station paid $30 for documentation and eventually purchased the entire Combat Area Casualty File. The two main databases Gonzales used were the Combat Air Summary and Detail Files (OPREA) and the Combat Area Casualty database, both available at the National Archives. OPREA includes information about all combat and non-combat air missions during the Vietnam War, including information about Cambodia and Laos. The casualty database included information on where and how military personnel died, their home of record, date of birth and other death details. Gonzales also used The Situation Report Army File, a database of ground combat operations in Southeast Asia, looking for army officers who were supposed to be on the ground and recovered the remains. 'Not all of it was vastly useful; mostly we used it for some tidbits,' he said. Data confirmed tips Most of the data work was used to confirm information received from sources: who had gone down where on what day and whose remains were recovered. All records related to the unknown selection process were supposed to be destroyed after the soldier was buried, but Gonzales found government officials who had refused to comply. 'Some people would hide the information in other files. One guy hid stuff in his garage. I now have a 5-foot tall filing cabinet filled with documents that were supposed to be destroyed,' Gonzales said. Although the Pentagon first told the reporters they would not receive any documents regarding the selection process, Gonzales said they were successful because they placed FOIAs with the original agencies and stayed away from using the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers reference. 'It wasn't hard to get the databases, but it was hard to get clean data,' he said, adding that the archive service tells users about potential obstacles. Data was put in wrong fields and names were spelled wrong. Gonzales used the Internet to find researchers and veterans who knew about Blassie's death and the following cover-up. He suggests that reporters doing military stories use variations on the names they want when searching government documents. He spent three months trying to find retired Col. Bill Parnell, whose troops recovered Blassie's skeletal remains and his identification card. The search was stalled because documents had the name spelled Darnell. Gonzales, teaming up with fellow reporter Eric Engberg and producer Dick Meyer, held off from contacting the Blassie family until the initial investigation was ending. 'We didn't want to drag their hopes up, but we needed to get them to sign affidavits allowing us to get military documents that usually only family members could obtain,' Gonzales said. On June 29, 1998, the United States Defense Department confirmed what the Blassie family and the CBS reporters had suspected for almost a year; DNA tests confirmed the remains buried at the tomb for 14 years were those of Michael Joseph Blassie. He is now buried at a veterans cemetery near the family's home in Florissant, Mo. 'It's what we had been working toward all along and the family were such great people you want to work even harder for them,' Gonzales said. The trio continues to investigate which military officials ordered Blassie's remains to be declared unidentifiable.", "provenance": { "extracted_by": "pre-v2", "extracted_at": "", "verified": true }, "similar": [ { "slug": "1998-may-system-protecting-military-malpractice", "score": 0.275 }, { "slug": "1995-october-tracking-military-justice-prisoners-hit-pay-dirt", "score": 0.172 }, { "slug": "1997-decemberjanuary-military-hospitals-report", "score": 0.155 }, { "slug": "2005-marchapril-peace-accidents", "score": 0.15 }, { "slug": "2003-marchapril-key-data-resources-for-covering-conflict", "score": 0.145 } ], "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-june-naming-the-unknown.html", "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-june-naming-the-unknown.json" }