Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside memorial:

Captain Rocky Versace Plaza
and
Vietnam Veterans Memorial

[In the center of the memorial:]
★ My son is ★ was ★ he often did ★ does ★ his eyes are ★ were brown ★

Tere Rios Versace
Missing in Action

[Dedication plaque:]
In Memory Of Our Friend
Tony Heisley
For It Was His Original Idea
That Led to The Creation
Of This Memorial

Erected by City of Alexandria.

Entrance to the Mount Vernon Recreation Center is in the background. In the Rec Center foyer is a Display Case of CPT Versace memorabilia. This includes a duplicate Medal of Honor, other military awards and honors (e.g., Ranger Tab, Special Forces Tab, Parachutist Wings), Special Forces Green Beret and West Point diploma earned by Rocky Versace.

Plaque with commissioning and dedication information

This is a picture of the Gold Star/Name of U.S. Army Captain "Rocky" Versace chiseled into stone on one of the circular benches which surround his life-size statue at the Memorial named for him. It is one of 68 Gold Stars above a name - each representing a Fallen Hero from Alexandria who died or is still missing in action (MIA) in Southeast Asia from the Vietnam War.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Atlas Obscura website:

Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans' Memorial
Alexandria, Virginia
A small and somewhat hidden memorial to 68 local veterans of the Vietnam War.

Outside the Mount Vernon Recreational Center in Alexandria, Virginia is an unexpected memorial dedicated to Captian Humbert Roque “Rocky” Versace and 67 other men from Alexandria who died or went missing in action during the Vietnam War.

At the center, a sculpture depicts Captain Versace playing with two children. Around the perimeter is a stone bench that names each of the 68 men in the order they died or went missing during the war. Forty-one of the 68 are buried in nearby Arlington Cemetery. The memorial, designed by architect Toby Mendez, was erected in 2002.

Know Before You Go
Free (but limited) street parking is available nearby.


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Here follows the 68 names mentioned on the stone perimeter benches in the plaza:

Paul M Bayliss (Capt) · Douglas Randolph Blodgett (SSgt) · Ray B Browne (Sgt) · Robert W Clirehugh Jr (Capt) · George Burton Colgan III · Ross Willard Collins Jr (Pvt) · Raymond Lester Conway (WO) · Robert William Cupp (Cpl) · Joseph Edwin Davies (Maj) · Robert William Dean (Sgt) · James Wheeler Dickey (Sgt) · Bernard Guy J Dillenseger (PFC) · Morgan Jefferson Donahue (Maj) · Charles Henry Elliott Jr (Cpl) · Richard Holt Freudenthal (LCpl) · Thomas Mark Gaither (Cpl) · Darrell Lee Gibbons (PFC) · Donald Wade Gill Jr (LCpl) · Bruce Elliot Graham (WO) · Richard Tenney Gray (1Lt) · Cleveland Ray Harvey (1Lt) · Richard William Hoffler (PFC) · Kermit W Holland Jr (PFC) · William David Holmes (Sp5) · Wayne Lamont Jordan (Cpl) · Herman L Judy Jr (Cpl) · Paul Richard Karas (Maj) · Michael John Keberline (LCpl) · Michael John Kilduff (Sp4) · James Edward King (Sgt) · 31. Henry Alverson Ledford (2Lt) · David Atwood Lerner (Sp4) · Lawrence Eugene Lilly (MIA) · George Barry Lockhart (Capt) · Michael Eugene Ludwig (PFC) · Philip Newman Malone (PFC) · Tschann Scott Mashburn (Capt) · Leland S Mccants III (1Lt) · Michael Joseph McCarron (Sp4) · Kevin C McElhannon Jr (PFC) · Frank Meszar III (Capt) · Kenneth Earl Norris (LtIG) · Brian Joseph O'Callaghan (1Lt) · Clarence M Overbay Jr (SSgt) · Henry Lindsay Page III (Sp5) · Ralph Byron Pappas (Capt) · Joseph Lewis Powell Jr (Capt) · Harry F Richardson Jr (PFC) · Kenneth Robert Sawyer (Capt) · Joseph Clarence Shartzer (AO2) · Johnny Jerome Smith (Sp4) · Henry M Spengler III (Capt) · Lewis Lynn Stone (1Lt) · Charles Lee Suthard Jr (Sgt) · Michael Oliver Thomas (Sgt) · Matthew Winston Thornton (Sp4) · Foster Jewell G Touart Jr (PFC) · Jeron Franklin Valentine (Pvt) · Humbert Roque "Rocky" Versace (Capt) · Robert James Walters (Capt) · David James Warczak (SFC) · James Clinton Ward (Cpl) · Ronald Wayne Ward (PFC) · Henry Luke Warner III (1Lt) · Robert Earl Whitbeck (LtC) · Raymond Leroy Williams (PFC) · John Anthony Winkler (SA) · Carl L Young (Maj)