How an American soldier earned the Medal of Honor in a POW camp

[rangerrebew]

How an American soldier earned the Medal of Honor in a POW camp

Stavros Atlamazoglou | October 22, 2021

The Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in combat a U.S. servicemember can earn. To earn the Medal, a troop has to conspicuously distinguish his or herself by valor above and beyond the call of duty at the risk of life and limb.

Since 1861, when Congress established the Medal of Honor, there have been 3,527 awards. The devastating majority of recipients have earned the highest honor in the heat of combat, usually in a single action or battle. Only a small number have earned the Medal for actions that spanned years and that didn’t involve continuous combat.

Captain Humbert Rocky Versace is one of them.

On the Ground in Vietnam

As an intelligence officer and advisor, Versace was attached to the 5th Special Forces Group for a tour of duty in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region in 1962. When the tour was ending, Versace volunteered for a six-month extension.

https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/how-an-american-soldier-earned-the-medal-of-honor-in-a-pow-camp/

[sneakypete]

@rangerrebew

Thank you for posting this!

Rocky was a man with bells on! A truly dedicated and fearless soldier. I am glad his story is finally starting to get told to the public.

Talk about a GREAT story to turn into an inspiring movie!

IIRC,later on,Nick Rowe was being moved by his communist captors when they happened to hear helicopters flying overhead,and were standing next to a clearing. Nick took a big chance and ran out into the clearing,hoping the pilots would see his beard and realize he was a POW,and not a Viet Cong. As chance would have it,the lead chopper pilot was a friend of his who recognized him and landed to pick him up.

Tell me,what are the freaking odds of THAT happening?


BTW,Nick Rowe,his fellow POW was later executed by Communist guerillas in the Philipines while working incognito to train Philipino assets on how to deal with guerillas in a guerilla war. IIRC,he was killed by a car bomb.

I am GUESSING the VC captors wisely decided to haul ass when this happened,rather than open fire on Nick and draw helicopter gun and rocket fire on themselves. Still,he took a big chance when he ran out into that clearing.

BTW,"No,I did NOT know either of these men personally" but did know people who did. The closest I MAY have came was I THINK I may have heard Nick Lowe give a speech at the Gabriel Demonstration Area once,and I am not even sure about that these days.