Val Bleser remembers speaking to her nephew at a send-off party in September before his last deployment.
John Grassia, 30, was ready to travel to Texas with the National Guard and help patrol the southern border. He expected to come back home to his native Rotterdam a year later and ascend the ranks of the state police.
“I was like, ‘Oh God’ and he said, ‘I’ll be OK, I’ll be OK, I’ll be OK,’ ” Bleser recalled.
On Saturday evening, she saw news reports of three people dead and one injured following a helicopter crash on the southern border. At that point, none of the names were released by the military.
And she went to bed in fear.
“My husband came in the morning and he said, ‘I have something to tell you: You were right. It’s Jay Michael. He’s been killed,” she said. “It was just the most gut-wrenching [feeling]. It was awful.”
Grassia and Casey Frankoski, a Columbia High School graduate from Rensselaer County, were among the three killed in a UH-72 Lakota crash on Friday around the southern border.
Another soldier, Rensselaer High School graduate Jacob Pratt, was injured. He remains hospitalized, the state Division of Military & Naval Affairs reported.
The incident occurred south of La Grulla, Texas. The cause is still under investigation, according to a statement from the federal Joint Task Force North.
Funeral arrangements are still pending, said Grassia’s sister, Gina McDermott.
Adam Hulett, who has known Grassia since 2014, struggled to process the news at first. The two met while in the New York Army National Guard.
John Grassia and Casey Frankoski
“He was such a good person and he was just squared away as far as the military and he knew his stuff as far as being a pilot goes,” Hulett said. “You didn’t want to believe it.”
Like Hulett, a sheriff’s deputy in Rensselaer County highway patrol bureau since 2020, Grassia pursued a career in law enforcement. He’s been a trooper since 2022, orginally serving in Columbia County, and eventually hoped to serve as the governor’s helicopter detail.
While assigned to Troop G in Montgomery County, he would join the family of his training officer, Anthony DiMezza, for dinner.
“They would come in hungry, my wife would often fix them something to eat when they were out on patrol and stopped by,” said family patriarch Thomas DiMezza, who also serves as supervisor of the town of Amsterdam. “My son often did that when he had a partner with him.”
The senior DiMezza, also a former state trooper, got to know Grassia over time. He said that he never heard anyone ever say anything bad about the state trooper.
The supervisor requested the American flag to fly at half mast at Amsterdam Town Hall on Saturday morning.
“It’s just tragic and everybody’s heartbroken,” DiMezza said.
DiMezza also knew Frankoski, the daughter of a former Rensselaer Police Chief James Frankoski through police academy work. He said that the former chief was proud of his daughter in uniform.
Meanwhile, Grassia, a Schalmont High School and University at Albany graduate, always dreamed of being in the military, as his family had served for multiple generations. He signed up for the Army National Guard before graduating high school in January of 2012.
“Between deployments and the training for everything, any moment that was spared was with family and he had so many friends,” Bleser said.
Grassia leaves behind two sisters, several nieces and nephews, and a German Shepherd dog, Arlo. He lived near his parents’ home in Rotterdam.
Both Grassia and Frankoski were honored in a series of social media posts on Saturday.
“Trooper Grassia, who was dedicated to serving and protecting not only the citizens of New York State but also the citizens of the entire United States, will be remembered for his ultimate sacrifice,” the state Troopers Police Benevolent Association wrote in a statement on Saturday posted to Facebook.
The Troy Police Department also offered its thoughts via Facebook.
“On behalf of the Troy Police Department, we extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Casey Frankoski and John Grassia Jr during this difficult time,” the Troy department wrote. “Their service and sacrifice will never be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this tragic event.”