This Soldier Was the First Army POW in Vietnam to Earn the Medal of Honor

Capt. Humbert Roque "Rocky" Versace was a military brat who had built an almost perfect military career of his own by the time he arrived in South Vietnam in 1962. Sadly, he never returned home.

Rocky Versace was the son of Col. Humbert Versace, a U.S. Army officer who served in World War II and author Marie Teresa Ríos, whose book, "The Fifteenth Pelican," was later turned into the television series, "The Flying Nun." He was a West Pointer, a member of the U.S. Military Academy's class of 1959.

By the end of 1961, he had earned a Ranger tab, a parachutist badge and had learned Vietnamese at what is now called the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. Versace volunteered to serve in Vietnam and deployed in May 1962 to serve as an intelligence adviser.

By this time, Viet Cong guerrillas were waging a full insurgency against the government of South Vietnam. American advisers were outnumbered by an estimated two to one during this period.

Versace worked as an intelligence adviser through October 1963 and paid a visit to a West Point classmate who was stationed in the Mekong Delta area with the 5th Special Forces Group. His tour was set to end just two weeks after his visit. While there, he joined a South Vietnamese Civilian Irregular Defense Group in its mission to hit a VC stronghold in Vietnam's An Xuyen Province.

While making their way to the Viet Cong's assumed position, Versace and the CIDG were ambushed by the Viet Cong, coming under intense mortar, machine gun and small arms fire. The Army officer coordinated the CIDG to return fire while it withdrew.

Versace covered the South Vietnamese as they moved out of the area, but he was wounded in the knee as the Viet Cong overran their position during the ambush. Even so, he continued to resist but was taken prisoner by the enemy.

He was taken to a jungle prison camp deep in the heart of VC-controlled territory. Two other captured Americans were with Versace at the time of his imprisonment and attested to Versace's continued resistance in the face of his captors.

Despite being chained and held in small boxes, he took command of the other Americans. Versace sang pop music songs, wrote messages in the latrines and repeated the Geneva Convention's language on the treatment of prisoners of war. He made the first of four escape attempts by crawling on his hands and knees on the jungle floor.

His behavior was an inspiration to the other prisoners, but was a thorn in the side of his captors. He protested the treatment of the prisoners in Vietnamese, an act that led to more brutal treatment, including leg irons and a gag to keep him from speaking. He never broke under torture.

The last time anyone would hear from Versace, he was being led into the jungle, loudly singing "God Bless America." In September 1965, the communist government of North Vietnam announced that he had been executed. His remains never were recovered, and his gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery is empty.

To this day, no one knows what happened to the young officer, but almost immediately insiders attempted to award him the Medal of Honor for his resistance. He received the Silver Star in 1969 instead. After decades of fighting through bureaucratic red tape, Versace finally was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2008 by President George W. Bush -- the first Army POW in Vietnam to receive the medal.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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