If you are old enough to remember the Vietnam War; you are probably old enough to remember a television sitcom called “The Flying Nun.” It starred Sally Field. Several episodes portrayed her in what was a cute, light-hearted and entertaining show; about a nun who was always getting involved in trouble.
As we begin to ponder the very serious subject of the Vietnam war today; I’m going to reveal the life of the son of the writer who sparked the ideas for this show with her writing.
Her pen name was Tere Rios and her son was named Humbert Roque Versace.
FIRST AMERICAN PRISONER
Humbert became the first U.S. Army prisoner of war in Southeast Asia.
This was the war in Vietnam.
Our hero, Humbert Versace, grew up among those children who were familiar with U.S. military life. His father graduated from West Point in the 1930’s. After graduation his father and mother (her real name was Maria Versace) married and began extensive years of travel with the military.
It was while they were stationed in Hawaii that their first born son arrived, and they named him Humbert Roque.
Humbert was joined by four other children eventually, and the family traveled extensively all through the children’s childhood years.
GROWING UP IN A MILITARY FAMILY
During World War II, Mrs. Versace did much more than play the wife and mother of five children. She also drove army trucks and busses for the bases where they lived, and even served as a pilot for the Civil Air Patrol.
As the children grew and the family continued their travels all over the world, Marie began to write and edit for various newspapers and publications, one of them being Stars and Stripes.
At one time she taught creative writing at The University of Pittsburgh. Marie was also on the staff of the Rhinelander Writer’s Conference. She was named “Wisconsin Writer of the Year” in 1957.
Humbert followed the path of his father and graduated from West Point. Soon after graduation he became a military advisor with the rank of Captain. Twice he was deployed to Vietnam.
TWICE DEPLOYED TO VIETNAM
To explain the Vietnam War; we would need to start looking at the facts from further back than World War II.
Humbert would have understood the times very well though; having grown up in a military family during the formative years of the development of the beginnings of the war. These things were probably the things he heard talked about around the dinner table when his parents entertained guests.
The quest for freedom and the fight against communist ways were ever at the forefront of those discussions; at their house and at every other home in America.
WHY WAS VIETNAM FOUGHT?
So many factors played into why this war in Vietnam was fought.
It seemed to be a civil war between two halves of the country of Vietnam who had different views on things; but at the same time the countries backing up the two having the civil war were more in control and powerful than either half of the Vietnam natives.
The facts surrounding The Cold War played heavily on the outcome of those who participated in the Vietnam War.
Had the Cold War not been a factor, and if other countries were not so fearful of communist take-overs; the war might have either only been fought by the natives of the land, or better yet; the war might not have happened because the Vietnamese might have chosen to became united without a war.
Because the French, the Americans, The Soviets and other countries were involved; this war lingered long past the days it should have ended.
DISLIKE OF FRENCH CONTROL
Vietnam is a nation in Southeast Asia on the eastern edge of the Indochinese peninsula, who was under French colonial rule from the 19th century.
While World War II was underway, the Japanese invaded Vietnam and for awhile became a strong presence there.
In 1945 the Japanese were defeated in World War II, and they withdrew their forces from Vietnam.
A French educated Emperor named Bao Dai was then placed in power over the government of Vietnam. Many of the natives resented and resisted his reign. They no longer wanted Vietnam to be controlled by the French.
MEET HO CHI MINH
A man named Ho Chi Minh, who had been influenced by the communist governments of China and the Soviet Union, formed the Viet Minh. It was also called The League For The Independence of Vietnam.
This man, Ho Chi Minh, was a whole story unto himself. He was quite a politician and a devout Revolutionary. Narratives of his life story have been debated by those who have read them over the years. None of the facts are the same in all of the many places they are found because he often lived an alias lifestyle; so the truth about his early years and origins are very vague.
We do know that he was a Marxist-Leninist with strong communist ideologies. Because of this, he often operated under different names, nationalities and titles, which makes tracing his history even more difficult. Aside from being a politician, Ho Chi Minh was also a writer, poet and journalist. Over the years he wrote several books, articles and poems in French, Chinese and Vietnamese.
In 1942 Ho Chi Minh was arrested in China and accused of being a spy. As they bound him in chains and shifted him from jail to jail; he kept a diary and called it “Prison Diary.” Much of what he wrote there is now available in Chinese publications. One poem was called:
Hard Is the Road of Life
by Ho Chi Minh
Having climbed over steep mountains and high peaks.
How should I expect on the plains to meet greater danger?
In the mountains, I met the tiger and came out unscathed:
On the plains, I encountered men, and was thrown into prison.
He published this poem in an article he wrote about himself back in 1968. Ho Chi Ming died in 1969; but he was VERY busy before that time with the reunification of Vietnam under his communist ideology. During the Vietnam war he lead the North against the South.
EARLY LIFE OF HO CHI MINH
This strange poet’s father was a Confucianist scholar, teacher and abusive imperial magistrate who refused to serve the French. This greatly influenced Ho Chi Minh as he grew into a man. Minh attended college and was an astute student until his father was demoted from the bureaucracy and he lost his government scholarship.
After that happened Ho Chi Minh quit school and eventually traveled to Siagon where he worked under an alias name as a kitchen helper on a French Steamer.
This adventure lead Ho Chi Minh to travel the world working on ships for the next several years. In 1912 he was working as a cook’s helper on a ship in the United States. There are plaques in certain places around the United States that have his name engraved upon them for his culinary talents; but not his political views.
From 1912 – 1913 Ho Chi Ming was said to live in New York City and Boston, where he worked as a baker at the Parker House Hotel.
During 1917 and 1918 there is evidence that he worked for General Motors as a line manager. Some have said that he met some Korean nationalists who helped to develop his political outlook while living and working there.
Other influences while in the states were the Pan-Africonish and Black Nationalist, Marcus Garvey.
Off and on Ho seemed to live short periods of time in certain Britain cities where he was said to have trained as a pastry chef; first on the Newhaven-Dieppe Ferry Route, then under Auguste Escoffier at the Carlton Hotel in Haymarket Westminster.
POLOTICAL INTERESTS
Around 1919 Ho began to show an interest in politics. This was greatly influenced by his friend, Marcel Cachin, who was involved with The Socialist Party of France.
In Paris Ho joined The Group of Vietnamese Patriots who had been publishing newspaper articles advocating Vietnamese independence. They were petitioning for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in Indochina. The petitioners requested the independence of the Vietnamese from French Indochina to the Western Powers attending the Versailles Peace Talks. However; they were ignored.
Prior to the peace talks though, this group also sent a copy of their letter to the leaders of France and America. Many now believe that this was a pivotal moment in time, and if then President Wilson had reacted favorably to this letter, that Ho Chi Minh might have turned more toward American persuasions instead of becoming deeper and deeper entrenched with the French Communist Party.
A STUDY OF CONTRASTS
Ho Chi Minh and Humbert Roque Versace are a great study in the contrasting motives of this war.
Their childhoods, younger years, and backgrounds, nationalities, political and religious loyalties and beliefs were complete opposites.
I studied each man carefully to try to gain a full perspective of what it would have been like to have been on both sides of the fence in this war.
Ho was much older than Humbert; but I wondered if their paths had ever crossed. Also I wondered if Ho’s actions had anything to do with what happened to Humbert later.
In 1920 Ho became a representative to the Congress of Tours of the Socialist Party of France. This made him a founding member of the French Communist Party, taking a position in the Colonial Committee where he tried to draw attention towards people in French colonies. He wasn’t very successful with this effort either.
MEETING DMITRY MANUILSKY
During the time of living in France, Ho began to write journal articles and short stories as well as running his Vietnamese Nationalist Group. In May of 1922 he wrote an article for a French magazine that was critical of how the French sportswriters used English words.
This article caught a lot of attention from certain French leaders including the Prime Minister. The article also brought Ho to the attention of Dmitry Manuilsky, who soon became Ho’s sponsor for a trip to the Soviet Union.
Manuilsky became a mentor to Ho, and Ho eventually grew into a high-ranking member’s position in the Soviet Comintern; who advocated for world Communism.
PLANTING SEEDS FOR THE REVOLUTION
This membership eventually took Ho to Canton China, where he taught at a military base and lectured young people, often lecturing about Communist ideologies.
The young people who were influenced in those days became the seeds for the later revolution.
While living in China, Ho married a Chinese woman who was much younger than he. She taught him the Chinese language. It was during their time together that Ho betrayed one of his father’s friends to French Secret Service in Shanghai for money.
In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek was ousted with an anti-Communist coup.
COOKING FOR THE COMMUNIST
That April Ho left Canton and returned to Moscow where he became sick with tuberculosis while living in Crimea. When he recuperated he decided to return to Paris once more. After that he traveled to Brussels, Berlin, Switzerland and Italy, and eventually he sailed to Bangkok, Thailand. During these traveling days, he served as a Senior Agent undertaking Comintern activities in Southeast Asia.
Off and on in all of these places Ho Chi Minh also worked as a cook. He stayed in Thailand until late 1929, then moved to India, then Shanghai. In 1930 while in Hong Kong he chaired a meeting with representatives from two Vietnamese Communist parties to merge them into a unified organization called the Communist Party of Vietnam.
In June of 1931 Ho was arrested by British Colonial Authorities with the intentions of importing him back to Vietnam for a death sentence.
FAKNG DEATH WHILE BEING DEPORTED
A left-wing British solicitor named Frank Loseby took up Ho’s case. After appeals to London, Ho was officially reported as dead in 1932.
Actually though; he was only deported as an “undesirable.” Eventually his captives released him after which, he disguised himself as a Chinese scholar. He boarded a ship to Shanghai, and stayed there until he decided to return to the Soviet Union.
While in Moscow again, he studied and taught at the Lenin Institute.
In 1938 he returned to China and served as an advisor to the Chinese Communist armed forces.
LEADING THE VIET MINH INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT
Finally; in 1941, Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam to lead the Viet Minh Independence Movement.
By this time, World War II was underway, and the Japanese had occupied Indochina.
The move was considered their first step toward invading the rest of Southeast Asia. Ho Chi Minh coordinated the Viet Minh with patriotic Vietnamese militants. They were called “men in black” and formed a 10,000 member guerrilla force.
Ho oversaw these military actions against the Japanese and those who still favored French intervention in Vietnam. He secretly worked with the United States and the French who quietly supplied help.
Then, again, Ho was jailed. This time by China and Chiang Kai-shek’s local authorities before being rescued by Chinese Communists. When he was released from prison in 1943, he returned to Vietnam.
All of these adventures where Ho lived in so many different places and countries are very confusing to people studying history because he lived under so many different aliases.
When he returned to Vietnam in 1943 he began to stick with the name of Ho Chi Minh.
In 1945 Ho Chi Minh offered to meet with the OSS agent, Archimedes Patti, and provided intelligence, securing a line of communication between his Viet Minh and the Allies. The OSS agreed and sent members to train Ho’s men.
REVOLUTION
A revolution happened in 1945 where Ho Chi Minh became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Premier of the Democratic Republic) of Vietnam.
Although Ho had convinced Emperor Bao Dai to abdicate; his government was not recognized by any country. Ho petitioned President Harry Truman for support for Vietnamese independence; but Truman never responded.
In 1946 Ho Chi Minh just happened to be staying in the same hotel in Paris as Ben-Gurion; who was to be the future Prime Minister of Israel.
They met and became acquainted. Ho Chi Minh offered Ben-Gurion a Jewish home in exile in Vietnam. Ben-Gurion declined stating that he was sure they would be able to establish a Jewish Government in Palestine.
THE WORLD AND VIETNAM
The world was certainly seeming smaller and many of its people were heavily focused on the things that were going on in a place called Vietnam.
In July of 1946 hundreds of political opponents of Ho were jailed or exiled. Many were then members of the Nationalist Party of Vietnam and the Dai Viet National Party who had failed in raising a coup against the Viet Minh government.
Rivalry with the French and the Vietnamese who had their sympathies was increasing.
In Saigon, a British commander, General Sir Douglas Gracey, declared martial law.
The Viet Minh leaders responded with a call for a general strike.
In 1945 a force of 200,000 Republic of China Army troops came to Hanoi to accept the surrender of the Japanese occupiers in northern Indochina.
Ho Chi Ming communicated a compromise with their General (Lu Han) to dissolve the Communist Party and to hold an election which would bring about a coalition government. When Chiang forced the French to give the French concessions in Shanghai back to China in exchange for withdrawing from northern Indochina, he had no choice but to sign an agreement with France.
A SHORT TIME UNDER A BROKEN AGREEMENT
With the agreement in place the Vietnamese would be recognized as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
It wasn’t long before this agreement was broken.
The whole reason behind making the agreement was for Chaing’s army to leave North Vietnam. As soon as this happened, fighting broke out again in the north.
In 1945 – 1946 the Viet Minh collaborated with French Colonial Forces to massacre supporters of the Vietnamese and Trotskyist movements. Soon all non-Communist parties were suppressed. The only other problem was making a peace deal with France.
THE FRENCH/INDOCHINA WAR
France had no intentions of allowing an autonomous, independent state of Vietnam.
They strengthened their troops and marched into Hanoi. One battle killed 6,000 men.
Ho Chi Minh declared war against them starting the French/Indochina War.
For two months the Viet Minh fought with all the determination they had. At one point, the French thought they had captured Ho Chi Minh; but it turned out to be an impostor who eventually tried to escape and was killed in the process.
There was a point when the French met Ho Chi Minh to negotiate; but Ho would not agree to return any of the Japanese for crimes of War from World War II. He called them friends and allies and continued to keep fighting instead.
The fighting with the French went on for seven more years.
SUPPORT OF SOVIET UNION
In 1950 Ho Chi Minh met with Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong.
The Soviet Union recognized Ho’s government. They began to support Ho against the French by lending troops, weapons and training techniques.
This war raged on until after the battle of Dien Bien Phu when more than 10,000 French soldiers surrendered to the Viet Minh.
FRENCH SIGN GENEVA ACCORDS
Because of efforts led by the Viet Minh forces, the French decided to end the fighting and they signed the Geneva Accords, allowing Vietnam to break loose of the rule of the French Colonials.
After this happened the French began to help and support Bao Dia’s predicament. With that extra strengthened effort; he set up The State of Vietnam in 1949, and made Saigon (in the southern part of the country) the capital.
The northern Vietnamese people favored and followed the tactics of Ho Chi Minh.
The southern people of Vietnam favored and followed the ways and ideologies of Bao Dia.
NORTH AND SOUTH DISAGREE ON LEADERSHIP
Actually though; both sides wanted the same thing. They wanted a united Vietnam that wasn’t under the rule of anyone else but Vietnam; they just disagreed on who the leaders would be.
Ho wanted Vietnam to be modeled after other communist countries that he had studied.
Bao wanted Vietnam to have close economic and cultural ties to the ways of the West.
This debate began a war that went on for many years.
By 1954 the United States became concerned with all that was going on in that part of the world. The conflicts kept being pointed out to them. They watched as Ho Chi Minh took power in the North. Then they saw the northern and southern parts of Vietnam divided and torn, as these two opposing factions constantly fought with each other.
TREATY AT GENEVA CONFERENCE
The Geneva Conference in July of that year produced a new treaty in which Vietnam was split along the 17th parallel.
Ho came into control of the North and Bao came into control of the South.
This treaty called for a nationwide election to be held in 1956 in hopes of reunification of the country; but the election never happened.
Instead; a strong anti-communist politician named Nago Dinh Diem came along and pushed Emperor Bao aside. Diem then became the President of the government of The Republic of Vietnam in the area of South Vietnam.
EISENHOWER SUPPORTS SOUTH VIETNAM
As all of this was happening in Vietnam; the fall out from The Cold War was also intensifying and the US began to harden their policies against any allies of the Soviet Union.
Eisenhower pledged his support to Diem and South Vietnam in 1955.
Any citizens of Vietnam living in the southern part of the country but having Northern sympathy for Viet Minh-type views were called Viet Cong.
Eventually the U.S. gave more and more military support, training and equipment to the South.
They also gave help from the CIA to Diem’s security forces. Diem, with more aid, began to crack down on the Viet Cong. During this crackdown they arrested many people and large numbers of people were tortured and executed.
KENNEDY INCREASES AID TO SOUTH
In 1957 the Viet Cong began fighting back by attacking government officials and other strategic targets. By 1959 both armies (north and south) were engaging in firefights with one another.
By December of 1960 Diam’s opponents formed The National Liberation Front in order to organize resistance against Diem. The United States assumed that these people were puppets from Hanoi.
In 1961 President Kennedy sent a team out to report on conditions in South Vietnam. They came back advising the U.S. to build up American military, economic and technical aid with which to help Diem confront the Viet Cong. Therefore; Kennedy increased American aid to South Vietnam.
CAPTAIN HUMBERT ROQUE VERSACE
One way that effort was increased was by sending over a soldier named Captain Humbert Roque Versace. This soldier was so typical of the many men who served in Vietnam for America.
He was smart, handsome and beloved by all who knew him. Everyone said he was a natural leader with a quick smile and a love for all that God had created. Captain Versace was loyal to his Great God and he loved America the Beautiful. It was his honor to go and serve his country.
Like many mothers of that time; his mother’s heart was troubled and she missed him very much. She was so proud of him and she just poured herself into her work while he was deployed, writing and publishing her first book called “An Angel Grows Up.” As Humbert was deployed to Vietnam; she wrote “Brother Angel” her second book.
By 1962 the U.S. had 9,000 troops stationed in Vietnam. Humbert was among those brave soldiers.
A COUP AND AN ASSASSINATION
A coup of Diem’s own generals rose up and killed Diem and his brother in 1963.
Three weeks later; President Kennedy was assassinated
Vice President Lyndon Johnson became President of the United States. He further renewed and increased U.S. military and economic support to South Vietnam.
In 1964 the North Vietnamese torpedoed two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
THE GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION
President Johnson retaliated by bombing North Vietnam. Congress gave Johnson broad war-making powers with The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. After that, U.S. planes began regularly bombing raids that were code-named “Operation Rolling Thunder.”
From 1964 untl 1973 the United States dropped over two million tons of bombs on neighboring neutral Laos.
The CIA actually led a secret war in Laos too. This was meant to disrupt the supply trail into Vietnam and to keep the Laos Communist forces from rising. Laos became the most heavily bombed country the world.
82,000 US TROOPS IN 1965
March of 1965 President Johnson with the solid support of the American people sent US combat forces into battle in Vietnam. By June of that year 82,000 US combat troops were stationed in Vietnam.
Military leaders called for 175,000 more by the end of 1965. Humbert was among these serving his second tour.
At that point, an anti-war movement started in America. Despite the anti-war efforts; Johnson dispatched 100,000 more troops in July and another 100,000 in 1966. South Korea, Thialand, Austraiia and New Zealand also committed troops.
The war waged on.
General William Westmoreland coordinated movement of the troops for American interests along with a government of General Nguyen Van Thieu in Siagon. Westmoreland’s efforts were all about killing enemy troops rather than securing territories.
This war had what was called “fire-free” zones. People lived in those zones, but they became uninhabitable. Refugees poured into these camps that had been designated safe-areas near Siagon.
North Vietnam was supported by aid from China and the Soviet Union. This gave new strength to their air defenses.
HUMBERT CAPTURED AND EXECUTED
In October of 1963 Captain Humbert Rosque Versace was captured by the Viet Cong.
On September 26, 1965 they executed him.
Tere Rios was devastated with the tragic death of her beloved oldest son.
Back in 1966, just before his death was revealed to her, she had published her third book called “The Fifteenth Pelican.” The book’s dedication read; “For The Rock (her son’s nickname) and the children and sugar people of Namcan.”
Tere and her husband tried their best to find out what they could about the facts of their son’s death.
In 1967 the U.S. had 500,000 troops in Vietnam. The casualties suffered by U.S. troops was 15,058 killed and 109,527 injured. Many soldiers began to mistrust the government’s reasons for keeping them in Vietnam.
PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
As time traveled on there were increased physical and psychological deuteriations among the American soldiers. There was a lot of heavy drug use, PSD, mutinies and soldiers attacking their own officers.
Between 1966 and 1973 more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel deserted the war.
Ironically; the forces at war were also part of the antiwar movement.
Violent protests sprung up. Killings and mass incarcerations of Vietnam personnel took place at war and on American soil at home. 35,000 demonstrators staged a massive protest outside the Pentagon in 1967.
The argument was that Vietnam citizens, not enemy combatants were actually the war’s real victims, and that America was supporting a corrupt dictatorship in Saigon.
TRAGIC CIRCUMSTANCES
By 1967 Hanoi was very impatient to end the war. They struck a blow to the U.S. troops. In 1968 the Tet Offensive attacks hit more than 100 cities in South Vietnam.
More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians.
Meanwhile; families at home in America were torn apart and worried about their loved ones participating in this tragic war.
Their only distraction from this stress, worry and concerns, were the sitcoms they watched on television in the evenings after carefully monitoring the latest news on their local television stations.
ABC produced “The Flying Nun” and it ran from 1967 through 1970. The story line came from Tere Rios’s novel called “The Fifteenth Pelican.”
A MOTHER GOES TO PARIS
In the late 60’s Tere Rios went to Paris to try to see the North Vietnamese delegation arriving for peace talks.
She expressed her emotions to them, and even went further by writing them down in novels and poems, which she never attempted to publish.
Tere was given a Special Forces Patch and a Unit Membership Certificate.
In 1970, there was a movement to honor her son with The Metal of Honor, but it failed; yet his Mother and Father did receive his Silver Star.
Humbert’s Father, Colonel Humbert Joseph Versace died in 1972. His Mother then returned to her roots in Puerto Rico in 1990. She retired in the town of Fajardo. In 1999 she had lung cancer and needed to be hospitalized in Sarasota, Florida. There she died soon after.
NIXON ORDERS WITHDRAWAL IN 1973
Opposition to the war in the United States bitterly divided Americans, even after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973.
Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975. The country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.
This war shattered the lives of many Americans who are still struggling with the outcomes of their own personal situations today. Some 500,000 of the 3 million troops who served in Vietnam suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, high rates of divorce, suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction.
BUSH GIVES HUMBERT MEDAL OF HONOR
In July of 2002 President George W. Bush presented the surviving brothers and sisters of Captain Humbert Roque Versace with his Metal of Honor.
He was among the very few men who served in Vietnam who finally received a thank you for their brave and courageous efforts. Yet; he did not live to see this reward, nor his mother and father who loved him so and fought for his recognition.
Let us all remember to honor them on Memorial Day.
To serve with motive is brave enough; but these men served their country and its ideologies without question; simply because they loved America and wanted it to stay free.
Such heroic efforts should never, ever be forgotten,