Alexandria Pauses for Memorial Day

Alexandrians honored the city’s fallen military heroes Monday in a Memorial Day ceremony hosted by the Friends of Rocky Versace at the Capt. Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial outside the  in Del Ray.

The ceremony included the reading of the names of the 67 service members with Alexandria ties that died in the Vietnam War, tributes to Capt. Versace, a wreath laying and guest speakers.

Jack Kull of the Department of Defense’s Prisoner of War-Missing Person office spoke of his efforts identifying the remains of missing troops and the greater role DNA evidence plays each day in what he does.

“Our mission is to find them and bring them home,” Kull said. “This is not a job. It is a commitment. It is a promise.”

Six of the 67 Alexandrians lost during the Vietnam War remain unaccounted for.

Among them is Versace, an Army captain who lived for a time on Forest Street in Del Ray and served as an acolyte at St. Rita Catholic Church in Arlandria. Versace was captured by Viet Cong forces in 1963 and endured 23 months in a POW camp before being executed.

While captured, Versace never cooperated with the Viet Cong. He ignored three bullet wounds in his left leg and adhered to the Military Code of Conduct, serving as an inspiration for others in the camp despite being held apart in a small bamboo cage.

He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2002, the same year the Versace Plaza was built in Del Ray. A case inside the Mount Vernon Recreation Center has more information about Versace and the other Alexandrians lost in Vietnam.

Also on Monday, North Vernon, Ind., native Diana Bowling donated a POW/MIA bracelet inscribed with the name of Maj. Joseph E. Davies, another Alexandrian whose body remains unaccounted.

Bowling purchased the bracelet from an Indiana drugstore in the late 1960s and said that Davies became part of her family. She said she prayed for him every night as a girl and wore the bracelet for more than 40 years.

Just a few months ago, Bowling reached out to the Friends of Rocky Versace after contacting the Alexandria Library. The Friends of Rocky Versace put her in contact with Davies family.

“Joseph Davies will never be forgotten by this Indiana girl,” Bowling said.

More than 100 people took in the ceremony in Monday’s sweltering heat. One female attendee collapsed toward the end of the event. Sheriff Dana Lawhorne called in Alexandria EMS workers, who treated the woman in an ambulance at the scene. She later left under her own power.