Military Opens Tomb of Unknowns to Test Remains

Remains of a U.S. serviceman--intended never to be disturbed again--were lifted from the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday and, after a solemn ceremony, sent to a laboratory for identification testing.

In hopes that sophisticated DNA tests may identify the remains, the Pentagon had workmen with diamond-tipped cutting tools slice through 10 inches of granite and lift off the marble top of a sarcophagus that has been in place for 14 years.

Veterans groups and the family of Lt. Michael Blassie, an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War, had urged the Defense Department to take the step to settle whether the bones are those of Blassie or some other serviceman killed in Southeast Asia who now can be identified by new scientific techniques.

Officials noted their hesitance to disturb remains that were laid to rest--next to those of unidentified GIs from three earlier wars--in memory of the unidentified dead of all American wars.

“We disturb this hallowed ground with profound reluctance,” Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said at a morning ceremony attended by 18 members of five families who may be related to the remains.

But he added that, while the decision was difficult, “if advances in technology can ease the lingering doubt of one family, then our path is clear.”

The bones were removed by a team that set to work about midnight surrounded by an 8-foot-high “privacy fence.” The heavy top of the crypt was lifted off by a crane, and the steel casket containing the bones was lifted out soon thereafter.

The remains were kept under guard beside the tomb until the brief ceremony, which also was attended by top military officials. Carried in a flag-draped coffin, the remains were sent about eight miles in a hearse to the Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center, where they will undergo DNA and other testing that may take as long as six months.

An inscription on the outside of the tomb says that the remains will be known “only to God.” The tomb is ordinarily guarded 24 hours a day by a ceremonial guard from the 3rd Infantry Division and is one of Washington’s most visited sites.

After a years-long search for suitable remains from the Vietnam War, President Reagan in 1984 formally oversaw a ceremony laying the bones to rest at the tomb.

But veteran activists began pushing for the DNA testing in 1996, citing what they saw as strong circumstantial evidence that the remains could be identified as Blassie’s. His A-37 fighter was shot down over An Loc, South Vietnam, on May 11, 1972. Items found with the six bones, including dog tags and an ID card, suggested a strong link to Blassie.

Last month, a Pentagon study committee urged the opening of the tomb. But military officials cautioned that the identification is by no means certain. And they cited other evidence from earlier analyses that suggested the bones do not belong to Blassie but perhaps to Capt. Rodney Strobridge, an Army helicopter pilot who grew up in Torrance, or one of seven other GIs who died about the same time.

Indeed, earlier tests showing blood type and the height indicate that the bones are more likely to belong to Strobridge than to Blassie, Pentagon officials said.

Tests will be conducted by officials at Walter Reed. A different battery will be conducted later by officials at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Md.