Captain Rocky Versace had already decided that after his tour in Vietnam, he was leaving the Army to become a Catholic priest and planned to return to Vietnam to help war orphans.
But before he had a chance to do that, he was taken prisoner by the Vietcong just a few weeks before his planned return to the states and was held in captivity for 398 days. His captors tried everything they could to break his spirit and get him to succumb to their anti-US propaganda, but after all their efforts failed decided he was too dangerous to be left alive.
On September 26, 1965, he was executed by the Vietcong on trumped up charges. His fellow prisoners say that as he was being led away for his execution, he was singing "God Bless America" at the top of his lungs. After the full story of his captivity was told, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the first US service member to receive the nation's highest award for valor solely based on his time in captivity.
His remains were never recovered but Captain Humbert Roque "Rocky" Versace has a memorial marker in his honor at Arlington National Cemetery in Memorial Section MG, Site 108.
The citizens of Alexandria, Virginia dedicated a memorial plaza in his honor and raised $125,000 for a statue of his likeness to be placed in its center.
A plaque with the entirety of his Medal of Honor citation is located on an exterior wall of the MacArthur Barracks at his alma matter, the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.
