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Humbert Roque Versace

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Military People

                     Humbert Roque Versace
   (July 2, 1937-September 26, 1965)

   Captain Humbert Roque Versace, Medal of Honour recipient
       Nickname     Rocky
    Place of birth  Honolulu, Hawaii
    Place of death  Vietnam
      Allegiance    U.S. Army
   Years of service 1955-1965
         Rank       Captain
         Unit       Advisory team 70, U.S. MAAG, Vietnam
     Battles/wars   Vietnam War
        Awards      Medal of Honour
                    Silver Star
                    Purple Heart

   Humbert Roque Versace ( July 2, 1937– September 26, 1965) was a United
   States Army officer of Puerto Rican- Italian descent who was awarded
   the United States' highest military decoration — the Medal of Honour —
   for his heroic actions while a prisoner of war (POW) during the Vietnam
   War. He was the first member of the U.S. Army to be awarded the Medal
   of Honour for actions performed in Southeast Asia while in captivity.

Biography

   Humbert Roque Versace was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on July 2, 1937. He
   was the eldest of five children born to Marie Teresa Rios (1917–1999) —
   the author of three books, including the Fifteenth Pelican, on which
   The Flying Nun (starring Sally Field), the TV series of the 1960s, was
   based — and Colonel Humbart Joseph Versace (1911–1972).

   Versace grew up in Alexandria, Virginia and attended Gonzaga College
   High School in Washington, D.C.. He joined the Armed Forces in Norfolk,
   Virginia. As had his father before him, Versace entered the United
   States Military Academy West Point. He graduated in 1959 and was
   commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Armor in the U.S. Army.

   He was a member of Ranger Class 4-60 and was awarded the Ranger Tab on
   December 18, 1959. Upon graduation from Ranger School, Capt. Versace
   attended Airborne School and was awarded the parachutist badge. He then
   served with 3rd Battalion, 40th Armor, 1st Cavalry Division in the
   Republic of Korea as an M-48 tank platoon leader from March 1960 to
   April 1961. Captain Versace was then assigned to the 3d U.S. Infantry
   (Old Guard), where he served as a tank platoon leader in Headquarters
   and Headquarters Company. After volunteering for duty in Vietnam, he
   attended the Military Assistance Institute, the Intelligence course at
   Fort Holabird, Maryland, and the USACS Vietnamese language Course at
   the Presidio of San Francisco.

   On May 12, 1962, Versace began his first tour of duty in the Republic
   of Vietnam as an intelligence advisor. In May 1963 he volunteered for a
   six month's extension of his tour, planning to attend seminary at the
   conclusion of his service and join the Catholic priesthood, hoping to
   return to Vietnam as a missionary working with orphans.

   Less than two weeks before the end of his tour, on October 29, 1963,
   while acting as intelligence advisor to Detachment A-23, 5th Special
   Forces Group in the Mekong Delta, Versace accompanied several companies
   of South Vietnamese Civilian Irregular Defense ( CIDG) troops who had
   planned to take out a Viet Cong (VC) command post located in the U Minh
   Forest, a Viet Cong stronghold. A VC Main Force battalion ambushed and
   overran Versace's unit, wounding him in the process. He was able to
   provide enough covering fire so that the CIDG forces could withdraw
   from the killing zone.
   Statue dedicated to Capt. Versace
   Enlarge
   Statue dedicated to Capt. Versace

   A second government force of about 200 men operating only a few
   thousand yards from the main fight learned of the disaster too late to
   help. U.S. authorities said the communist radio jammers had knocked out
   both the main channel and the alternate channel on all local military
   radios.

   Versace was captured and taken to a prison deep in the jungle along
   with two other Americans, Lieutenant Nick Rowe and Sergeant Dan Pitzer.
   He tried to escape four times, but failed in his attempts. Versace
   insulted the Viet Cong during the indoctrination sessions and cited the
   Geneva Convention treaty time after time. The Viet Cong separated
   Versace from the other prisoners. The last time the prisoners heard his
   voice, he was loudly singing " God Bless America". On September 26,
   1965, North Vietnam’s "Liberation Radio” announced the execution of
   Captain Humbert Roque Versace.

   Versace's remains have never been recovered. His headstone at Arlington
   National Cemetery stands above an empty grave.

   Upon learning of their son's fate, Marie Teresa Rios Versace and her
   husband, Colonel Versace, tried to find out what they could about the
   circumstances. She went to Paris in the late 1960s, trying
   unsuccessfully to see the North Vietnamese delegation as it arrived for
   peace talks. Rios Versace expressed her frustration and anguish in
   poems.

   Nominations to award Versace the Medal of Honour were initiated in
   1969, but the nomination failed and he was posthumously awarded the
   Silver Star Medal instead. The quest for a Medal of Honour for Versace
   languished until the "Friends of Rocky Versace" reinitiated the crusade
   once more in 1999. Language added by Congress in the 2002 Defense
   Authorization Act ended the standoff and authorized the award of the
   nation's highest military decoration for combat valor to Versace.

   On July 8, 2002, in a ceremony in the White House East Room, Versace
   was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour by President George W.
   Bush for his heroism, the first time an Army POW had been awarded the
   nation's highest honour for actions in captivity. Present were his
   surviving siblings, Dr. Stephen, Richard (former coach of the Indiana
   Pacers), Michael and Trilby Versace.

Awards and decorations

     *   Medal of Honour
     *    Silver Star
     *    Purple Heart
     *    POW Medal
     *    Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

Medal of Honour citation

     Humbert Roque Versace
     Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Army, Intelligence Advisor,
     Special Operations
     Place and date: Republic of Vietnam.
     Entered service at: Norfolk, Virginia Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii
     Citation:"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of
     his life above and beyond the call of duty while a prisoner of war
     during the period of 29 October 1963 to 26 September 1965 in the
     Republic of Vietnam. While accompanying a Civilian Irregular Defense
     Group patrol engaged in combat operations in Thoi Binh District, An
     Xuyen Province, Republic of Vietnam on 29 October 1963, Captain
     Versace and the CIDG assault force were caught in an ambush from
     intense mortar, automatic weapons, and small arms fire from elements
     of a reinforced enemy Main Force battalion. As the battle raged,
     Captain Versace fought valiantly and encouraged his CIDG patrol to
     return fire against overwhelming enemy forces. He provided covering
     fire from an exposed position to enable friendly forces to withdraw
     from the killing zone when it was apparent that their position would
     be overrun, and was severely wounded in the knee and back from
     automatic weapons fire and shrapnel. He stubbornly resisted capture
     with the last full measure of his strength and ammunition. Taken
     prisoner by the Viet Cong, he demonstrated exceptional leadership
     and resolute adherence to the tenets of the Code of Conduct from the
     time he entered into a prisoner of war status. Captain Versace
     assumed command of his fellow American prisoners, and despite being
     kept locked in irons in an isolation box, raised their morale by
     singing messages to popular songs of the day, and leaving inspiring
     messages at the latrine. Within three weeks of captivity, and
     despite the severity of his untreated wounds, he attempted the first
     of four escape attempts by dragging himself on his hands and knees
     out of the camp through dense swamp and forbidding vegetation to
     freedom. Crawling at a very slow pace due to his weakened condition,
     the guards quickly discovered him outside the camp and recaptured
     him. Captain Versace scorned the enemy's exhaustive interrogation
     and indoctrination efforts, and inspired his fellow prisoners to
     resist to the best of their ability. When he used his Vietnamese
     language skills to protest improper treatment of the American
     prisoners by the guards, he was put into leg irons and gagged to
     keep his protestations out of earshot of the other American
     prisoners in the camp. The last time that any of his fellow
     prisoners heard from him, Captain Versace was singing God Bless
     America at the top of his voice from his isolation box. Unable to
     break his indomitable will, his faith in God, and his trust in the
     United States of America and his fellow prisoners, Captain Versace
     was executed by the Viet Cong on 26 September 1965. Captain Versaces
     extraordinary heroism, self-sacrifice, and personal bravery
     involving conspicuous risk of life above and beyond the call of duty
     were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States
     Army, and reflect great credit to himself and the U.S. Armed
     Forces."

In memory

   The name Humbert R Versace is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans
   Memorial ("The Wall") on Panel 01E, Row 033.

   On July 6, 2002, Rocky Versace Plaza in Alexandria, Virginia was
   dedicated in honour of Humbert R. Versace. There is a statue with the
   likeness of Versace in the Plaza, which was made possible with a
   donation of $125,000 raised by the citizens of Alexandria, Virginia

   On July 9, 2002, the day after the White House Medal of Honour
   ceremony, Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White and Army Chief of Staff
   General Eric K. Shinseki inducted Versace into the Pentagon Hall of
   Heroes.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humbert_Roque_Versace"
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