Episode 100: A Vietnam POW's Five Years to Freedom, Part VI

Lieutenant Rowe's circumstances change drastically and he unexpectedly finds himself the lone prisoner in his prison camp. After spending four years with other American POWs, he has to adjust to these new surroundings and hope that he has the mental fortitude to withstand the Vietcong's ramped-up indoctrination sessions all on his own.

Episode 99: A Vietnam POW's Five Years to Freedom, Part V

 

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.  

Episode 98: A Vietnam POW's Five Years to Freedom, Part IV

 

During one of his times of lowest morale during his captivity, Rowe created an imaginary resort called "Hacienda del Sol." The exercise helped him take his mind off the hunger, thirst, dysentery, and fungal infection inflicting misery on him... at least for a little while.

Episode 97: A Vietnam POW's Five Years to Freedom, Part III

 

After Captain Versace was separated from the group, two additional soldiers eventually joined Lieutenant Rowe and Sergeant Pitzer. The first was Master Sergeant Edward Johnson.

The second was Sergeant Leonard Tadios.

Episode 96: A Vietnam POW's Five Years to Freedom, Part II

I was unable to find copies of any of the propaganda photos the Vietcong took of Rowe, Versace, and Pitzer - I'm not sure if they exist anywhere of not - so I really don't have anything to add to this week's episode visually. I will say that my hat goes off to all POWs. I understand why some broke, and I hold those who held fast to the Code of Conduct in the highest regards!

 

Episode 95: A Vietnam POW's Five Years to Freedom

 

First Lieutenant Nick Rowe not long before he was captured by the North in Vietnam in 1963.

Captain Rocky Versace earned his Combat Infantry Badge during his 12-month tourn in Vietnam as a US advisor to the South Vietnamese military. At the end of his tour, he extended for an additional six months. In late October 1963, less than two week before his extension was up and he was due to return home, he was captured during a combat mission with South Vietnamese forces. 

Episode 94: The Spymaster Who Created Modern American Espionage, Part V

 

As the war in Europe was drawing to a close, Donovan tried to convince Roosevelt one more time about the need for a postwar central intelligence service, but when FDR inexpertly died, he was afraid him dream had died with him. He had no working relationship with Truman, FDR's successor, and Truman was convinced that such a service was not needed - at least until after then war when it became clear that a Cold War with the Soviet Union would necessitate a postwar espionage agency. The Central Intelligence Agency was eventually created but Donovan would not be the one the lead it.

After Truman left office and Donovan's old Army colleague Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected, he hoped that he would now be named Director of Central Intelligence, but it was not to be. Ike did have a job for him though - he was appointed US Ambassador to Thailand - a country that would be vital to America's anti-Communist activities in Asia during the Cold War.

Donovan was a successful ambassador but resigned after two years. While in Thailand, he began experiencing systems of dementia which would ultimately lead to his death just one months after his 76th birthday. Major General William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 2, Grave 4874.