Reunion Comes As A Gift From A Long-Dead Soldier

By Steve Bigham

Patrice Albright returned to Newtown this week to finally meet the parents of the young man she had loved and lost so long ago. It was a meeting that neither Mrs Albright nor Irene and George Blantin will ever forget.

On November 19, 1969, Eric G. Blantin was killed in Vietnam when the helicopter he was piloting exploded on takeoff. The tragic accident changed the lives of the Blantin family forever. It did the same for Patrice Albright, just 17 at the time, and living in Florida.

Mrs Albright learned of her high school sweetheart’s death in December of 1969 at a peace rally in West Palm Beach. Eric’s name was listed on a roster of those killed in Vietnam over the previous six months. Still in high school at the time, Mrs Albright was devastated. And though her mother was there to comfort her, the young woman was left to mourn alone.

“I hadn’t heard from him in a while, so I had a feeling something had happened,” said Mrs Albright, who had moved to Florida with her family after her sophomore year at Newtown High School.

Thirty years later, although married and living in New Hampshire, Mrs Albright says she has never forgotten the handsome young man she met in study hall.

“He’s a part of my story. I have never forgotten him,” said Mrs Albright, now 48. “I have great warmth in my heart, a smile and a tear.”

But she never got a chance to meet Eric’s parents… until Wednesday afternoon when she arrived at the Blantins’ home at 4 Aunt Park Lane, accompanied by her sister and Newtown resident and private investigator Gil Whitlock, who was instrumental in bringing the two families together after all these years.

“I’m glad I waited. I know this meeting means a lot more to me now than it would have back then. I feel like I’m finally able to heal,” Mrs Albright said. “But this doesn’t bring closure. It just brings it full circle. I don’t like the word closure. This is a whole new chapter.”

Eric G. Blantin was a 1967 graduate of Newtown High School. After being drafted, he went to helicopter pilot school in Texas. Prior to leaving for Vietnam, he visited his family in Newtown and Patrice Albright in Florida. He and Jimmy Dale were killed instantly when their helicopter exploded in a ball of flames. Reports indicated a Vietnamese soldier had stuck a grenade in the chopper’s fuel tank.

The Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) Post 308 in Newtown now bears the name Eric G. Blantin, along with Charles Howard Peck, Sr and Jr.

Eric’s Pen Pal

George and Irene Blantin were unaware of their son’s relationship with Mrs Albright until after his death when the US Army returned Eric’s belongings. They contained a class ring and letters from a woman named Patrice Albright, of whom they had never heard. The Blantins held on to the class ring along with other mementos of Eric’s, hoping that one day they might hear from the woman. That day finally arrived this week and the Blantins embraced Mrs Albright as if she was one of their own. They couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened had Eric come home from the war. Is it possible Patrice could have been my daughter-in-law? Mrs Blantin wondered.

“You’re a gift to me. You make me feel so good,” Mrs Blantin said as she finally returned the class ring to her son’s final girlfriend.

Both women agreed their meeting Wednesday was a gift from Eric, a young man who, according to Mrs Albright, did not believe in the war, but served his country because he felt it was the right thing to do.

“He had a lot of courage. In a lot of ways, Eric has played a big role in shaping my life,” she said.

Eric and Patrice met in study hall during their days at NHS. Little did they know how much their lives would change in the coming years.

Strangely, Eric and Patrice were involved in a car accident during one of their first days in high school. Both were reportedly thrown from the car, but not seriously injured.

“I remember being in the ambulance and looking at Eric and saying ‘I love you,’” Mrs Albright recalled this week. “He told me he loved me and then the ambulance driver said, ‘who are you guys, Romeo and Juliet?’”

In 1971, Mrs Albright said she visited Eric’s grave at the Village Cemetery as she passed through town.

The Man Who Made

It All Possible

This week’s meeting would never have happened had it not been for the efforts of Gil Whitlock, who managed to locate Patrice Albright in June. Mr Whitlock, who operates Associated Research & Investigations, Ltd, out of his Main Street home, became interested in the Blantin story after reading an article in The Newtown Bee last November (on the 30th anniversary of Eric Blantin’s death).

 “I saw the article and wondered if Mrs Blantin had ever tried to find her. I cut the article out and left it on my desk where it sat for three months. Time went by and I finally called Mrs Blantin and told her I would try and find this woman,” Mr Whitlock explained. “It was all in the last several weeks that this all came together.”

 The private investigator said the Blantins’ story touched him. A 1969 graduate of Bethel High School himself, Mr Whitlock, 48, was just two years younger than Eric Blantin. He informed the Newtown couple that he would find Patrice Albright at no cost.

“It wasn’t easy. I found her using a combination of technology and shoe leather footwork,” he explained. “I find people all the time. This was something that I just felt needed to be done.”

Mr Whitlock’s search took flight after a trip to the town clerk’s office where he discovered land records showing that a Charles and Wilma Albright had sold their home in Newtown in 1967. Then, after many long hours on the phone, the PI determined that the couple, Patrice Albright’s parents, were living in Florida. Their phone number was unlisted, however, forcing Mr Whitlock to write them a letter.

“Then I waited and waited. I thought about giving up and I even thought about going down there. As a private investigator, you don’t want to ever give up,” he said.

 Finally, a Wilma Albright called Mr Whitlock and confirmed that she was the mother of Patrice Albright, who was living in Jaffey, New Hampshire.

“I explained that I had read the article about Eric Blantin in the local newspaper and she said, ‘oh, The Bee,’” Mr Whitlock said during an interview with The Bee earlier this week.

Soon after, Mr Whitlock established contact with Patrice Albright, who was still using her maiden name.