DoD Vietnam Veteran Lapel Pins To Be Given At Alexandria Veterans Day Ceremony

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The 20th annual Veterans Day Ceremony in Alexandria will feature a special Department of Defense lapel pin presentation.

The ceremony will be held Thursday, Nov. 11, from 1 to 2 p.m. at Mount Vernon Recreation Center (2701 Commonwealth Avenue, Alexandria, VA). At the ceremony, the Department of Defense Vietnam Veteran Lapel Pin will be presented to qualified veterans by retired Lt. Gen. of the U.S. Army Joseph E. DeFrancisco, also the chairman of the board for the Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point. All living U.S. military veterans who served active duty between Nov. 1, 1955 and May 15, 1975 are eligible for the lapel pin.

Like past Veteran Day ceremonies, the event will honor the 68 Alexandrians killed during the Vietnam War or remain missing in action as well as all veterans. The 68 names are engraved on the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial and will be read aloud during the ceremony. There will also be a tribute to Alexandrian and posthumous Medal of Honor recipient Captain Humbert Roque "Rocky" Versace, who was taken as a Prisoner of War and was executed by the Viet-Cong, reportedly while loudly singing "God Bless America." There will be a wreath laying in his honor.

The ceremony will also recognize Gold Star families in attendance, feature the sounding of “Taps” and include a performance of "God Bless America."

The Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 2002 outside the Mount Vernon Recreation Center with support from residents and the Friends of Rocky Versace. Versace lived in Alexandria from 1948 to 1953 in a home on Forrest Street a few blocks from the Mount Vernon Recreation Center.