Related: THE AIR COMMANDO WHO DIED SO THAT OTHERS COULD LIVE
Weakened by his wounds and fatigued by the fierce firefight, Captain Versace stubbornly resisted capture by the over-powering Viet Cong force with the last full measure of his strength and ammunition.” “As the battle raged, Captain Versace, although severely wounded in the knee and back by hostile fire, fought valiantly and continued to engage enemy targets. Versace was wounded twice but kept fighting and encouraging his comrades. The heavily armed Viet Cong battalion poured machine-gun fire and mortars into the American-Montagnard patrol, inflicting heavy casualties. During that routine mission in October, a Viet Cong force ambushed the CIDG patrol. The Special Forces operators and their Montagnard fighters were targeting strong forces of Viet Cong insurgents in the area of the U Minh Forest. This joint unit was comprised of a combination of Green Berets and local Montagnard fighters who hated both the North Vietnamese and Communism dearly. Then, in October 1963, with his tour ending in just two weeks, Versace went on another combat patrol with the Civilian Irregular Defence Group (CIDG).