Michael Lee Annis was born on September 2, 1950, in Espanola, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. He was the son of John Joseph Annis and Maxine Olga Christenson Annis. He served in the Heavy Mortar Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, as a Private First Class and Mortarman during Vietnam War era.

On August 18, 1971, a U.S. Army CH-47A Chinook (tail number 66-19023) transporting troops from Ludwigsburg to the Grafenwöhr training area crashed near Pegnitz, Germany, when a decommissioned rotor blade was mistakenly reinstalled and failed mid-flight. The aircraft broke apart in the air, killing all 37 aboard, including 33 soldiers and 4 crew members, marking the deadliest peacetime U.S. military accident in
West Germany since World War II.

PFC Annis was among the passengers on board and now rests at Columbia Gardens Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

Source of information: www.chinook-helicopter.com, www.findagrave.com