Thanks for sharing CPT.

De nada. That's why they keep us FOG's around, we tell good stories!

You might check out this one.

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...ead.php?t=2655

"Colonel Ray Nutter, an Army congressional liaison officer attended the private meeting and recalled:"


I received this in an email a couple of days ago.


"Gentlemen, as some of you already know, Ray Nutter, 76, former T-Bird Chief, Viking 26, and XO of the 121st AHC passed away on Tuesday, 24 October of a heart attack."

One of our G's at Sage was related to Rocky Versace. I forget exactly what the relationship was (Grandfather, maybe...), but it was really a shocker after the call of ENDEX when we "left" Pineland and they truly revealed their identities. It also explained why he went by the G name of "Rocky."

If my memory is correct he serves as an 11B in a NG unit. Our entire "ODA" thought highly of him during Sage, and after we found out his family ties we all considered ourselves lucky to have served with him. It was one of the many small details that made Robin Sage such a unique and memorable experience.

Peers, comrades remember Aviator
Vietnam veteran always loyal to troops

By Michelle Owens
Army Flier Staff Writer




-- Retired Col. Raymond T. Nutter


Retired Col. Raymond T. Nutter, Army Aviator and veteran whose call sign was “Viking 2-6,” will always be remembered as a good Soldier, leader and friend, according to his comrades and peers.

Nutter, 76, was a resident of Bowling Green, Ky., and he was born Jan. 24, 1930. He died at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 25.

After graduating from Western Kentucky University, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He graduated from flight school here in 1959.

Nutter served in Soc Trang, Vietnam, with the 121st Assault Helicopter Company from 1966-1967.

“Ray Nutter was a tough Soldier, a good leader and an all around good man,” said retired Lt. Col. Jerry Daly who served with him in Vietnam. “He was very loyal to his troops. He always stuck up for his troops even when we didn’t deserve it.”

While serving with IV Corps in the Mekong Delta, the southernmost military region in Vietnam, Nutter flew a mission that earned him the Distinguished Service Cross, the United States’ second highest medal for valor.

He flew with a team of UH-1 Hueys that entered an enemy-filled area Oct. 18, 1966, to rescue wounded American troops. While trying to pick up the wounded Soldiers, Nutter's aircraft was shot down, and his pilot was killed.

He and his crew chief and gunner fought off Viet Cong insurgents and survived through the night. A rescue team picked them up the next day.

“He was effective as a leader during that mission. His quick decisions determined the fate of a lot of people,” said Daly, who also flew in the mission.

During his career, he served in various command and staff positions, was a congressional liaison and the senior advisor for the Kentucky National Guard, according to his friend and comrade retired Lt. Col. John Kennedy.

Retired Col. Harry Harper remembers visiting his comrade in Washington during America’s bicentennial celebration in 1976. Nutter was then serving as a congressional liaison.

“To be a congressional liaison, you have to have a certain personality — likable. He got along with everyone,” Harper said. “He was real outgoing. He didn’t have enemies. He led by example.”

A memorial service was held Sunday in Bowling Green. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery Dec. 6, said Kennedy.

“He was a good man. If you were in a fight, you’d want him on your side,” he said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I flew with John Kennedy and Jerry Daly, I also flew with Ray Nutter...

RIP Colonel Nutter. Terry, I'm sorry for your loss.

RIP COL Nutter.

T- sorry for the loss of your friend and comrade.

Thanks:

Pappy Kittleson passed away about six months ago, and now Ray!

Sorry Capt for your personal loss.

Thanks, brother!

It's a fact of life that career military types usually have serious hurts picked up along the way, so I shouldn't be surprised when colleagues succumb...but I still recall these gentlemen as studly fighting machines!

I'm bumping this, it's a worthy story!

http://content.hamptonroads.com/stor...5043&ran=98419

Posthumous Medal of Honor winner honored in Virginia Beach

By DAVE FORSTER, The Virginian-Pilot
© May 20, 2007


VIRGINIA BEACH - Mike Heisley grew up with Humbert "Rocky" Versace, so he knew what the Viet Cong had gotten themselves into when they took his buddy prisoner in 1963.

"I was not surprised that we would never see Rocky again, because I knew that he would never bend," Heisley said.

The Army captain's actions during his 23 months in captivity - relayed by a fellow prisoner of war who lived to tell the story - are the stuff of legend. On Saturday, friends and veterans gathered at Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School, Versace's alma mater, to honor his legacy and keep it alive.

They recognized the Medal of Honor he received posthumously for his deeds as a POW. They announced a scholarship in his name. They marveled at the character of a man who wouldn't quit arguing with his captors to save his life, who sang patriotic songs from his isolated cage to uplift his men, even if it meant another beating.

They tried to understand "why he did what he did," said John Gurr, who graduated with Versace from West Point in 1959.

Before his capture, Versace served as an intelligence adviser near the U Minh Forest, a Viet Cong stronghold. He carried hard candy for children when he made his rounds in the villages.

"They would run toward his jeep when he appeared, calling out "Dai Uy Candy - Captain Candy," wrote retired Marine Col. Don Price, whose account of his time with Versace was read at Saturday's ceremony.

Versace so loved the children there that he planned to join the priesthood after his second tour and return to the country to work in an orphanage.

His daily visits included a school, a midwife facility, a clinic and the local Catholic church. On the way back he stopped at a jail to check on the welfare of enemy soldiers, Price said.

Versace was wounded in an ambush and captured with two other members of a special-forces team in October 1963, two weeks before the end of his second tour.

Versace quickly earned a reputation for challenging his captors and demanding better treatment of his men. He spoke French and Vietnamese and argued with them in three languages.

"Five months later the Viet Cong propagandists classified him as a stubborn incorrigible," Gurr said.

Versace, the ranking officer among the captives, was isolated from his countrymen, who felt that Versace's defiance deflected abuse from them.

"I'm an officer in the United States Army," Versace was known to say during attempts at indoctrination. "You can make me come here, and you can make me sit here and listen, but frankly I don't believe a word you're saying, and you can go to hell."

Near the end of his captivity, villagers reported seeing a prisoner, later identified as Versace, whom the Viet Cong paraded as an example of a humiliated American soldier. The villagers said the soldier spoke to them in their language, disputed his captors' rhetoric and smiled as he was beaten, Gurr said.

Versace was executed in 1965.

"There are no indications that Rocky Versace ever broke," Gurr said.

At Bishop Sullivan, where Versace attended his senior year when it was still Norfolk Catholic High School, students now have two large display cases that will remind them of his deeds.

The collection includes a yearbook from 1955, the pages turned to Versace's photo and his senior quote:

"In arguing too, the parson owned his skill, For even though vanquished he could argue still."


Reach Dave Forster at (757) 222-5563 or dave.forster@pilotonline.com.

Thanks Gypsy for updating this tread. Great story of a great warrior. Thanks also to you CPTAUSRET for your original post. In the telling of the stories is where these great Heroes Live forever.

NSDQ

Gypsy:

Good find! Nice writeup!

Bracelet
 

I just found a old POW/MIA bracelet with Rocky Versace name on it