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Bush Awards Medal of Honor to Vietnam War Hero
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, July 8, 2002 -- Forty years ago, Army Capt. Humbert Roque 'Rocky' Versace wanted to become a priest and work with Vietnamese orphans. He'd been accepted into a seminary, but his dream was not to be fulfilled. Two weeks before he was due to return home, Versace, 27, was captured on Oct. 29, 1963, by Viet Cong guerrillas who spent the next two years torturing and trying to brainwash him. In return, he mounted four escape attempts, ridiculed his interrogators, swore at them in three languages and confounded them as best he could, according to two U.S. soldiers captured with him. The witnesses said the unbroken Versace sang "God Bless America" at the top of his lungs the night before he was executed on Sept. 26, 1965. His remains have never been recovered. Nominations starting in 1969 to award Versace the Medal of Honor failed; he received the Silver Star posthumously instead. 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. Today, President Bush and the nation recognized Versace for his courage and defiance. Bush said the Army captain was "a soldier's soldier, a West Point graduate, a Green Beret who lived and breathed the code of duty, and honor and country. "Last Tuesday would have been Rocky's 65th birthday," the president said. "So today, we award Rocky the first Medal of Honor given to an Army POW for actions taken during captivity in Southeast Asia. "In his defiance and later his death," Bush said, "he set an example of extraordinary dedication that changed the lives of his fellow soldiers who saw it firsthand. His story echoes across the years, reminding us of liberty's high price and of the noble passion that caused one good man to pay that price in full." Versace's brother Steve accepted the award during a White House ceremony witnessed by family members and many of the friends and supporters who had worked for years to have Versace's Silver Star upgraded. Versace grew up in Norfolk and Alexandria, Va., and attended Gonzaga College High School. He graduated from West Point in 1959 and became a member of the Ranger Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Ga., and a member of Army Special Forces. Bush said a fellow soldier recalled that Versace "was the kind of person you only had to know a few weeks before you felt like you'd known him for years." As an intelligence adviser in the Mekong Delta, he befriended many local citizens. "He had that kind of personality," the president said. "One of Rocky's superiors said that the term 'gung-ho' fit him perfectly," he noted. "Others remember his strong sense of moral purpose and unbending belief in his principles. As his brother Steve once recalled, if he thought he was right, he was a pain in the neck. If he knew he was right, he was absolutely atrocious." The Vietnamese tortured prisoners to persuade them to confess to phony crimes. Versace gave only his name, rank and serial number as required by the Geneva Convention. "He cited the treaty chapter and verse over and over again," the president said. "He was fluent in English, French and Vietnamese and would tell his guards to go to hell in all three." Versace knew what he was doing, Bush said. "By focusing his captors' anger on him, he made life a measure more tolerable for his fellow prisoners, who looked to him as a role model of principled resistance." Sempers, Roger
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IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND SSgt. Roger A. One Proud Marine 1961-1977 68/69 http://www.geocities.com/thedrifter001/ |
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To learn more about him
To Read on the Medal of Honor he is a Web Site to learn more...
http://www.homeofheroes.com/profiles...s_versace.html Sempers, Roger
__________________
IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND SSgt. Roger A. One Proud Marine 1961-1977 68/69 http://www.geocities.com/thedrifter001/ |
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