GRAVESTONE OF LT. MICHAEL BLASSIE IN ST LOUIS, 1998-05-14 (photo)

The headstone in memory of U.S. Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie, whose jet was shot down in South Vietnam in May 1972, is shown in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis May 8. The headstone is in a section of the miltary cemetery where families can erect stones in memory of loved ones whose bodies have not been recovered. 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 on May 14 to be tested for possible identification. The disinterment from the tomb, which also contains unknown U.S. remains from World Wars One and Two and the Korean War, was conducted in response to a plea from Blassies's family, who believes his bones were buried there in 1984. CM/AA