The National Alliance of Families mourns the passing of Betty Hopper, mother of POW/MIA Earl Hopper Jr. Mrs. Hopper passed away February 18th, after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. For years, Mrs. Hopper was active in the POW/MIA issue, striving for the truth regarding her son and all men missing in Southeast Asia. Her belief that live POWs survived after 1973 never wavered. She will be missed. To her family and many friends, we extend our deepest sympathy.

If the above statements were correct, the skull once believed to be Mark Judge would either match his mother or not. Instead the skull matches Mary Judge Jellison and 63 other members of the database. The arm bone once believed to be Mark Judge would either match his mother or not. Instead the arm bone matches Mary Judge Jellison and 1 other member of the database. Based on this, the entire CIL-HI skeletal remains matches at least one other family in the database. So much for uniqueness!

Family members - IF you have already contributed blood for mt-DNA testing, you are part of the database. You could match the CIL-HI remains. Make inquiries!

Speaking of mt-DNA we promised you the updated data base. Here it is:

We remind everyone, the 1994 database was used to identify the remains once thought to be Mark Judge. It was from that database that Mary Judge Jellison, Mark's mother, was told of the "unique" match to the remains. The case review in 1997 used the August 1996 database. Using that database the skull matched 64 members of the database. Does that mean if another review were conducted using the January 1998 database, more matches would be found?

Did you know the "Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on the use of DNA Technology for Identification of Ancient Remains" recommends blood samples from two family members (mother and sibling or 2 siblings when mother is unavailable) to insure accuracy of testing. So why when two samples are available are they only taking one?

X-26 = 1 Lt. Michael J. Blassie = The Vietnam Unknown - Again, from our January 24th edition of Bits 'N' Pieces we asked "What did CIL-HI and/or the Pentagon Know and When did they know it?" In Part 2 of their story - aired on January 20th, 1998, CBS quoted unidentified CIL-HI employees as stating they knew the identity of the "Unknown" at time of interment. CBS described how these employees visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. Standing before the the name of Michael J. Blassie, they wept.

"What did CIL-HI and/or the Pentagon Know and When did they know it?" The following copyrighted is Excerpted from A Missing Plane by Susan Sheehan. Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons. Copyright (c) 1986 by Susan Sheehan. This usage granted by permission.

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In 1973 Congress directed the Secretary of Defense to select an unknown Vietnam serviceman to represent all the dead of the war that had divided the country more than any other since the Civil War. In 1975 a crypt was built at Arlington's Tomb of the Unknowns to contain these remains, but for years it stayed empty. In 1921 when the first unknown soldier a casualty from the First World War was buried at Arlington, there were more than 1600 unidentified remains to choose from. On May 30, 1958, when an unknown soldier from the Second World War was honored, there were over 8500 to choose from. The same

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day, an unknown soldier from Korea was also interred, and there were over 800 to choose from. Because of the prompt evacuation of the dead and wounded by helicopter, improved military record-keeping, and scientific advances in identification techniques, there had never been more than four Vietnam unknowns at the CIL at any one time. Groups like the National League of Families had successfully fought the selection of a Vietnam unknown, because they feared that it would lead to a slackening of govemment efforts to search for the individuals still unaccounted for. In the spring of 1984, however, the pressure from groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion combined with the Administration's eagerness to make a controversial war more respectable by honoring those who had fought in it resulted in a Defense Department decision to choose a Vietnam unknown from the four remains then at the CIL.

In choosing an unknown from earlier wars, an administrative procedure of forgotten origin was followed: only remains that were as much as 80 percent complete were selected. These so-called "best" remains of the 1920s and 1950s were the worst choices in the 1980s, because of the progress in identification techniques, so the criterion of 80 percent was waived for the Vietnam unknown soldier. X-15 was 26 percent complete but had been identified once the right record was found.

One of the four remains at the CIL in early 1984 was ruled out because it was 95 percent complete. A second remains, which had been turned over by the Vietnamese in 1983, was not a candidate, because Furue had successfully superimposed a scapula from the remains over a chest X-ray from the record of one of the unaccounted-for, and in the CIL'S opinion there was an excellent likelihood of identifying him if the Vietnamese turned over additional

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remains. The third remains at the CIL had been part of a 1978 turnover of four from Laos. One of the four had been identified as an American Air Force pilot, but two others had proved to be Southeast Asian Mongoloids. The bones of the fourth were those of a Caucasoid, but there was no evidence that he had been a soldier.

The fourth remains at the CIL at the beginning of 1984 had been found by a South Vietnamese Army reconnaissance team in late 1972 near a town about 60 miles north of Saigon. The remains were eventually given the number X-26. They consisted of six bones. Along with the remains, which were only 3 percent complete, the reconnaissance team had brought in a few objects such as remnants of a flight suit, of a pistol holster, and of a parachute, and a one-man inflatable raft. Furue determined that X-26 was a Caucasoid man of average muscularity, whose height had been approximately 68.4 inches and who had been between twenty-six and thirty-three years old. The only men in the killed-in-action body-not-retumed category within a 2500-square-mile area of where X-26 had been found were two men in a helicopter and the pilot of a fighter plane; both aircraft had crashed, as it happened, on May 11, 1972. Several sergeants at the CIL were convinced that X-26 was one of the two men from the helicopter, but Furue was not certain. The Vietnamese reconnaissance team's report had been disturbingly vague, and the condition of the six bones - they showed no evidence of trauma - was at variance with accounts of both crashes. Furue was asked to go to Washington and recommend to the National League of Families that X-26 be chosen as the Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War. He declined to go. He believed that if additional remains of X-26 were ever found he could identify him. On April 13, 1984, Caspar

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Weinberger designated X-26 as the remains that would be buried at Arlington.

Johnie Webb and Tadao Furue refuse to discuss the Vietnam Unknown. "Putting X-26 in the Tomb of the Unknowns was politically expedient," a former CIL sergeant says. "At best, it was premature. I'll bet Doc considered him unidentified but not unidentifiable. Perhaps it was appropriate to the Vietnam War. So much else about it was political. Everything connected with X-26 has been ordered shredded, but you can't shred what's in men's minds. If we ever get into South Vietnam, the way we got into Laos, and find additional remains that match those in Arlington, there could be a problem."

"What did CIL-HI and/or the Pentagon Know and When did they know it?"

Compare what was published in 1986 to what was written in the Comprehensive Case Review in 1995 -- "On 11 May 1972, 1 LT. Michael Blassie was flying as pilot of an A-37 aircraft on a ground support mission in an area northwest of An Loc City South Vietnam." "..an ARVN Recon Patrol recovered what was thought to be 1 LT. Blassie's partial remains...." "...The recovered items consisted of four ribs, one pelvis, one humerus (six bones)... small portion of a nomex flight suit, a raft... part of a parachute..".

"What did CIL-HI and/or the Pentagon Know and When did they know it?" There was never any doubt as to the possible identity of CIL-HI "X26." Remains designated "Unknown" could only be Michael J. Blassie. Yet, everyone from Lt. Col. Johnnie Webb down remained silent. By their silence they stripped Michael J. Blassie of his identity and they denied the Blassie family the right to bring their son and brother home.

Who else knew about this conspiracy of silence and when did they know it? You'd be surprised! The decision to deny Michael J. Blassie his identity was business as usual. When CIL-HI/Pentagon, and the alphabet gang need to identify a missing serviceman, when they need to get a name off the list, when they need to bury a case, they do it. Forget about evidence. Ignore details such as remains. Facts are not important when they need to close a case.

When they needed an "Unknown" the alphabet gang declared one. Forget the evidence, ignore the facts, they needed an unknown and they made one. You'd be surprised at who knew the decision was a bad one and when they knew it.

How widespread is the practice of identifying men without remains. Here is our short and definitely incomplete list. Please let us know who we missed, and we will publish an updated list in a future edition of "Bits." Note: this list does not include men with suspect identifications based on a tooth. Nor does it include men from the "Specter 17" loss whose identifications are highly suspect (in two of those cases the identifications were rescinded.)

Do the following phases mean anything to anybody --- "Tiger Hotel" "Loose Blood"

Does anyone have any information on "Operation Citadel" conducted September - October 1967?

The National Alliance of Families Ninth Annual Meeting is scheduled for June 18 - 20th, 1998 in Washington, D.C. Once again, we will meet at the Sheraton City Centre Hotel in Washington D.C. Room rates are $103.00 per night double occupancy. To make reservations, call 800-526-7495.

Remember our meetings are open to all, at no charge. In order to make this Forum a reality, funds are needed. Please consider a contribution to The National Alliance of Families. The Alliance is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a charitable organization. All donations are tax deductible. Contributions may be mailed to The National Alliance of Families, P.O. Box 40327, Bellevue Washington 98015-4327.

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