Blessinger, John P.
Air Force Staff sergeant

John P. Blessinger, age 33, from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Okaloosa county.

Parents: Vilette Blessinger
Spouse: Married
Children: Daughters, ages 6 and 8

Service era: Gulf War

Date of death: Thursday, January 31, 1991
Death details: During the Battle of Khafji, the AC-130 he was aboard was hit by a shoulder-fired missile as the plane attacked rocket launchers threatening U.S. Marines. Air Force officials said no one could have survived the crash. Only five of the 14 men lost were positively identified after remains were recovered from the plane, which was missing for more than a month before discovered on the bottom of the Persian Gulf off Saudi Arabia.

Source: White House Commission on Remembrance, Gulf War Chronicles, Military Times, Newsday (1991)