OKLAHOMA CITY -
After 44 years of not knowing Lt. Col. Clarence Finley Blanton's
family says they finally have some closure Thursday night.
"I want to remember my dad as a person...as he was," Karen
Daughety said.
Daughety was 21 years old when she was notified her father, Air
Force Lt. Col. Clarence Finley Blanton was missing in the Vietnam war.
"You know about it, but you just put it behind you because you
don't' think anything going to come of it so it just sits in the back of your
mind," said Daughety.
"I don't' really know him that much I know he was in the Air Force
through WWII, Korean War and portions of Vietnam," Ethan Mathews, Lt. Colonel
Blanton's great-grandson wants to learn more about his pilot family history and
hero.
"His whole life was Air Force," Daughety said.
The family is learning more about how their Air Force hero was
killed fighting for our freedom.
"My dad was supposedly reaching in his back pocket to get his ID
out and he and two other men were shot point blank," Daughety said. "Then he
and nine others were thrown off a 5,000 foot cliff."
Patriot Guard, local police and old friends escorted the soldier
back to his hometown and final resting place in El Reno.
"I've actually shed more tears in the last three weeks than I ever
have," Daughety said. "I'm just happy to have my dad back. He gave his life for what he believed in
that's it in a nutshell."
The funeral for Blanton will be Saturday in El Reno. His next of
kin, his wife, is on her way to meet up with family at the funeral in El Reno. That
pilot's funeral will be 10 a.m. Saturday at the El Reno Cemetery. A flyover will also take place during the
service.
Air Force Lt. Col. Clarence Finley Blanton went missing in the Vietnam War.
