For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 8, 2002
President Awards Posthumous Medal of Honor to Vietnam War Hero
Remarks by the President at Presentation of Medal of Honor
The East Room
3:07 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, and welcome to the White House.
It's a -- this is a special occasion. I am honored to be a part of the
gathering as we pay tribute to a true American patriot, and a hero,
Captain Humbert "Rocky" Versace.
Nearly four decades ago, his courage and defiance while being held
captive in Vietnam cost him his life. Today it is my great privilege
to recognize his extraordinary sacrifices by awarding him the Medal of
Honor.
I appreciate Secretary Anthony Principi, the Secretary from the
Department of Veteran Affairs, for being here. Thank you for coming,
Tony. I appreciate Senator George Allen and Congressman Jim Moran. I
want to thank Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense; and
General Pete Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs; Army General Eric
Shinseki -- thank you for coming, sir. I appreciate David Hicks being
here. He's the Deputy Chief of Chaplains for the United States Army.
I want to thank the entire Versace family for coming -- three
brothers and a lot of relatives. Brothers, Dick and Mike and Steve,
who's up here on the stage with me today. I appreciate the classmates
and friends and supporters of Rocky for coming. I also want to thank
the previous Medal of Honor recipients who are here with us today.
That would be Harvey Barnum and Brian Thacker and Roger Donlon. Thank
you all for coming.
Rocky grew up in this area and attended Gonzaga College High
School, right here in Washington, D.C. One of his fellow soldiers
recalled that Rocky was the kind of person you only had to know a few
weeks before you felt like you'd known him for years. Serving as an
intelligence advisor in the Mekong Delta, he quickly befriended many of
the local citizens. He had that kind of personality. During his time
there he was accepted into the seminary, with an eye toward eventually
returning to Vietnam to be able to work with orphans.
Rocky was also a soldier's soldier -- a West Point graduate, a
Green Beret, who lived and breathed the code of duty and honor and
country. One of Rocky's superiors said that the term "gung-ho" fit him
perfectly. 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." (Laughter.) "If he knew he was right, he was
absolutely atrocious." (Laughter.)
When Rocky completed his one-year tour of duty, he volunteered for
another tour. And two weeks before his time was up, on October the
29th, 1963, he set out with several companies of South Vietnamese
troops, planning to take out a Viet Cong command post. It was a daring
mission, and an unusually dangerous one for someone so close to going
home to volunteer for.
After some initial successes, a vastly larger Viet Kong force
ambushed and overran Rocky's unit. Under siege and suffering from
multiple bullet wounds, Rocky kept providing covering fire so that
friendly forces could withdraw from the killing zone.
Eventually, he and two other Americans, Lieutenant Nick Rowe and
Sergeant Dan Pitzer, were captured, bound and forced to walk barefoot
to a prison camp deep within the jungle. For much of the next two
years, their home would be bamboo cages, six feet long, two feet wide,
and three feet high. They were given little to eat, and little
protection against the elements. On nights when their netting was
taken away, so many mosquitos would swarm their shackled feet it looked
like they were wearing black socks.
The point was not merely to physically torture the prisoners, but
also to persuade them to confess to phony crimes and use their
confessions for propaganda. But Rocky's captors clearly had no idea
who they were dealing with. Four times he tried to escape, the first
time crawling on his stomach because his leg injuries prevented him
from walking. He insisted on giving no more information than required
by the Geneva Convention; and cited the treaty, chapter and verse, over
and over again.
He was fluent in English, French and Vietnamese, and would tell his
guards to go to hell in all three. Eventually the Viet Cong stopped
using French and Vietnamese in their indoctrination sessions, because
they didn't want the sentries or the villagers to listen to Rocky's
effective rebuttals to their propaganda. Rocky knew precisely what he
was doing. 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.
Eventually the Viet Cong separated Rocky from the other prisoners.
Yet even in separation, he continued to inspire them. The last time
they heard his voice, he was singing "God Bless America" at the top of
his lungs.
On September the 26th, 1965, Rocky's struggle ended his execution.
In his too short life, he traveled to a distant land to bring the hope
of freedom to the people he never met. In his defiance and later his
death, 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.
Last Tuesday would have been Rocky's 65th birthday. So today, we
award Rocky -- Rocky Versace -- the first Medal of Honor given to an
Army POW for actions taken during captivity in Southeast Asia. We
thank his family for so great a sacrifice. And we commit our country
to always remember what Rocky gave -- to his fellow prisoners, to the
people of Vietnam, and to the cause of freedom.
Now, Major, please read the citation.
(The citation is read, and the Medal is presented.) (Applause.)
END 3:15 P.M. EDT
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