HUMBERT 'ROCKY'VERSACE

Early in the Vietnam War, a dedicated US Special Forces officer defied his merciless Viet Cong captors and inspired his fellow POWs to survive

- MICHAEL E HASKEW

It was almost time to come home. US Army Captain Humbert Roque 'Rocky' Versace had completed a 12-month tour in Vietnam just as the American presence in the restive country had begun to increase in the early 1960s. He had grown fond of the people and in May 1963 extended his tour for six more months.

Versace's plan was to attend seminary and return to Vietnam on a personal mission of Christian outreach and mercy to the inhabitants. But there was trouble brewing and he refused to remain behind when duty called.

A 1959 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, Versace had earned his Ranger tab and Airborne wings, served as a tank platoon commander in South Korea and with the 3rd Infantry Regiment (the famed Old Guard) then volunteered for duty in Vietnam. He attended the Military Assistance Institute Intelligence course at Fort Holabird, Maryland, and immersed himself in the study of the Vietnamese language before heading to Southeast Asia.

Versace was assigned to Advisory Team 70, Detachment 52, 5th Special Forces, popularly known as the Green Berets, as an intelligence advisor to Civil Defense and Self Defense Forces operating in An Xuyen province. He was visiting an outpost of 12-man Special Forces Team A-23 near the village of Tan Phu in the Mekong Delta when word was received of a communist Viet Cong incursion that threatened supply and communications in the area. Shortly afterward the events of 29 October 1963 changed everything for Versace and left an indelible impression on those who knew him, both friend and foe.

The American advisors and their Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) militia concluded that maintaining security in the vicinity of Tan Phu could best be accomplished with a quick strike against the communist incursion. The guerrillas were likely to flee in response to this show of strength - they thought - and the situation would settle down.