Eric Blantin Died 30 Years Ago This Week –

Parents Live Out Their Lives In The Shadow Of A War

By Steve Bigham

George and Irene Blantin still remember the day two soldiers knocked on their front door at 4 Aunt Park Lane as if it were yesterday.

“Our daughter Mary said, ‘ma and pa, there’s someone at the door – two soldiers.’ That’s all I needed to know. I knew it was Eric,” recalled Mrs Blantin Monday morning at her home.

Thirty years ago this week, Newtown resident Eric G. Blantin, 20, lost his life on the battlefields of Vietnam when his helicopter exploded on takeoff. Reports indicated it was sabotage.

Earlier this week, the Blantins, now in their 70s, talked about their beloved son, their feelings about war and the impact it has had on their family.

Eric Blantin was born and raised in Newtown. He graduated from Newtown High School in 1967 and, like most kids his age, had the world on a string. But then the draft notice came about two months after graduation, and soon he was packing for helicopter school in Texas. The military relied heavily on helicopters during the Vietnam War and Eric, bright and eager to fly, was the perfect candidate.

Soon Eric was fully trained in the operation of a “search and rescue” chopper and it was off to Vietnam. First, however, he made one final trip home to his parents’ house in Newtown. It would be his very last visit to the home he loved.

“I can still remember him walking down the back steps. He looked back at the house one more time before he left,” Mrs Blantin recalled.

Eric was involved in several missions over the jungles of Vietnam and was on his way to another when a grenade stuck into the chopper’s gas tank and exploded. Eric and Jimmy Dale of Missouri were killed instantly. The date was November 19, 1969.

To this day, the Blantins still keep in touch with the Dale family.

Eric’s letter to his parents, written the day before he died, spoke of a man who, despite being in the middle of a war, was courageous and unfazed by the chaotic world in which he found himself. He assured his mother that he was far removed from all the drug and alcohol use that was said to be going on. He spoke of a mission he was scheduled to make the following day – his last.

It was a somber Thanksgiving that year at the Blantin residence. The Blantins were left searching for things to be thankful for. Brightening their spirits some, however, was the presence of Eric’s friend Gordon West, who spent the day with the couple, eating turkey and reminiscing about the friend he had lost. For the Blantins, it would be a long time before they could return to living a normal life – 10 years, to be exact.

“It was in 1979 when our grandson Michael was born,” Mrs Blantin explained. “We’re learning to live with it. I’m learning to appreciate life a lot more.”

For Mrs Blantin, war has played a large part in her life. She spent more than half a decade praying for the safe return of her husband, who served his country in the Pacific during World War II. She married him in just five days before he returned to the battlefront. Of course, Mr Blantin did return safely and the couple continued their marriage where it had left off. They have been together for 55 years.

“We were married in 1944, and then George was off to the Pacific. He was gone almost two years before we could continue our marriage. I was so grateful he came home alive. I never thought my son would be involved in a war,” Mrs Blantin recounted.

 In time, they became the parents of three children, Eric, Diane and Mary. Eric was the oldest and his sisters looked up to him. They took his loss just as hard as their parents did.

A Mother’s Loss

Mrs Blantin never agreed with the United States involvement in Vietnam and her feelings only became stronger with the loss of her son. She and her husband tried to temper their feelings toward America’s foreign policy at that time, but the hurt is still apparent in their eyes.

“Vietnam was so different than World War II. We could have gotten along without going there,” she said. “I think the Pentagon was anxious to have a war.”

Mr Blantin agreed.

“That’s their business,” he said.

As a mother, losing her young son in a war fought halfway around the world changed Mrs Blantin’s life forever.

“The men plant the seed. We carry it for nine months, and then we want to keep our baby. We don’t want to send him off to war,” she said.

Eric’s Pen Pal

When going through Eric’s belongs soon after he died, the Blantins discovered a class ring from Newtown High School given to him by Patrice Albright, two years younger than Eric. She was living in Florida at the time and was corresponding with the “soldier boy” on a regular basis. The Blantins keep the class ring along with other mementos of Eric’s, hoping that one day they might hear from the woman. She, too, must have been struck by her friend’s death.

Standing 6-2, tall and slender, Eric was a sight for sore eyes.

“The girls really liked him. He was a gentleman. Eric was not a killer, he was a lover,” Mrs Blantin said. “Now, I see little children and I wonder, ‘are these kids going to ever have to go to war?’”

The Blantins have considered visiting the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, but remain somewhat reluctant.

“It would be a hard thing for me to go and see it,” Mr Blantin admitted. “I know he’s dead, and then to have to go down and see it? I don’t know.”

Nevertheless, the Blantins say their son’s life was not wasted. They are grateful for the 20 years they did have with Eric. “I consider us very lucky to have had him as long was we did,” Mrs Blantin said.

The Blantins still routinely visit their son’s grave at Village Cemetery in Newtown. They are getting on in age and often wonder what Eric would have made of himself had he not been killed. He would have turned 50 this year and his parents believe he would be leading a full and happy life. But wars are fought by the young. Eric Blantin was one of the unfortunate ones who never came home.

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.