Classmates of Rocky Versace’s West Point Class of 1959 salute during the playing of TAPS after placing a Wreath at the Rocky Versace statue May 26 in Del Ray.
“Alexandria’s fallen heroes are not forgotten.”
— Memorial Day ceremony emcee Kevin Rue
Gold Star family members of Alexandria’s fallen Vietnam veterans were among the hundreds who gathered to pay tribute to the city’s fallen during a Memorial Day ceremony May 26 at the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Del Ray.
The names of Alexandria’s 68 fallen and missing in action service members from Vietnam were read aloud as part of the annual ceremony at the site named for Medal of Honor recipient and Vietnam POW Humbert Roque “Rocky” Versace.
The ceremony included a wreath laying by members of Versace’s West Point class of 1959 and was attended by several Gold Star family members.
Friends of Rocky Versace representative Kevin Rue served as Master of Ceremonies, welcoming those in the audience and introducing the Gold Star Family members in attendance. Gold Star family members included: Reba Bayliss, widow of Capt. Paul Bayliss, and her son Patrick; Sue Harvey, sister of MIA 1LT Larry Lilly; CPT Henry Spengler widow Bette Meuleners and brother James Spengler; Earl Valentine, brother of PVT Jeron Valentine; and Curtis Versace, the sister-in law of Rocky Versace.
The ceremony included the reading of the names of Alexandria’s 68 Vietnam War fallen heroes. A volunteer stood by the name chiseled into the stone benches arranged in the chronological order of their death in Southeast Asia (1963 – 1972) and read the name.
Rue emphasized that seven men remain Missing in Action: Rocky Versace, Tony Winkler, Doug Blodgett, Joe Davies, Morgan Donahue, Leland McCants and Larry Lilly. He noted that these seven are a handful of the 1,576 Americans unaccounted for in Southeast Asia from the Vietnam War.
Two of the men whose names are on the Versace Memorial, Capt. Henry Spengler and Capt. Barry Lockhart, are former MIAs. During a first of its kind ceremony on POW/MIA Recognition Day in September 2024 at the Honolulu Memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, a rosette was placed adjacent to each man’s name at the Memorial’s Courts of the Missing indicating the remains were recovered and positively identified.
Six of Versace’s USMA 1959 classmates, joined by members of the Affiliation Class of USMA 2009, presented a wreath at the Versace statue.
Members of the Saint Rita American heritage Girls Troop 1381 led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Miss Arlington 2025 Madison Whitbeck sang the Star Spangled Banner with Bishop Ireton High School student Catherine Cassidy singing America the Beautiful and God Bless America. Lt. Col. Steve Tracy closed the ceremony with the playing of Taps and Deacon Steve Dixon, also from Saint Rita, provided the Invocation and closing prayer.
Dignitaries in attendance included State Sen. Adam Ebbin, Del. Charniele Herring, Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, former Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg, former Alexandria City Councilman David Speck and former Alexandria City vice mayor Bill Cleveland.
Following the formal portion of the ceremony, Rue on behalf of the Friends of Rocky Versace presented Vietnam Veteran Lapel Pins from the Department of Defense to three qualified veterans.
“Capt. Rocky Versace is the U.S. Army's only Medal of Honor recipient from the Vietnam War whose remains have not been recovered and returned by the communists," said Rue. “This Memorial Day, Rocky Versace and Alexandria’s 67 other Vietnam War Fallen Heroes are not forgotten.”