[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING NEW MEXICO'S RICHARD ROCCO

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                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 13, 2002

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, last month New Mexico lost a 
real hero. Richard Rocco, an Army Medic in the Vietnam War who received 
the Medal of Honor for rescuing severely wounded fellow crewmen from 
the wreckage of a downed helicopter under enemy fire, died of cancer on 
October 31 at his home in San Antonio, Texas. He was 63.
  On May 24, 1970, Mr. Rocco, a sergeant, was aboard a medical 
evacuation helicopter that was shot down on a mission to remove wounded 
South Vietnamese troops besieged near the village of Katum. Mr. Rocco 
suffered back injuries, a broken hip and a broken wrist, and the other 
four crew members were shot. Brave and determined, Mr. Rocco went back 
to the helicopter and carried the co-pilot, the crew chief and another 
medic to cover, one at a time, crossing 20 yards of open ground under a 
hail of fire, his hands and face burned by flames engulfing the 
helicopter. The next day, two American helicopters were shot down 
trying to evacuate the crewmen, who had called in artillery and air 
strikes on their own position to turn back an assault by North 
Vietnamese troops. However, all five crew members were rescued on that 
second day.
  The commander of the First Cavalry Division visited Mr. Rocco at the 
hospital and told him he had been recommended for the Medal of Honor. 
He heard nothing else about it until 1974, when he was stationed at 
Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and was told he would receive the medal, the 
nation's highest award for valor.
  Mr. Rocco had not known that the co-pilot he saved, Lt. Lee 
Caubarreaux, had been lobbying in his behalf. In March 1971, while Mr. 
Caubarreaux was preparing for a medical retirement in Texas, the Medal 
of Honor recommendation was mailed to him by a warrant officer in the 
First Cavalry Division awards office in South Vietnam who had found it 
in a desk drawer.
  Mr. Caubarreaux appealed to Army authorities to approve the award, 
and then recounted Mr. Rocco's efforts to Senator Russell Long of 
Louisiana, Mr. Caubarreaux's home state. Those efforts finally 
prevailed when President Gerald R. Ford presented the Medal of Honor to 
Mr. Rocco on December 12, 1974. The medal requires even generals to 
salute its recipients.
  Louis Richard Rocco, a native of the Barelas neighborhood of 
Albuquerque, retired from the Army as a chief warrant officer in 1978 
after 22 years of military service. He reenlisted in 1991, in the 
Persian Gulf War, and spent six months at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 
recruiting military personnel.
  Mr. Rocco worked extensively as a veterans counselor. In 1978 he 
started the Vet Center on Fourth Street which created a host of 
services and programs for veterans. Besides the Vet Center, Mr. Rocco 
started a shelter for homeless veterans, a nursing home in Truth or 
Consequences and tuition waivers for veterans attending state-run 
colleges. During the administration of New Mexico Governor Toney Anaya 
he was named the director of the Veterans Service Commission. In recent 
years, even as his health failed, he also spoke to schoolchildren about 
drug abuse on behalf of Vietnam Veterans of America.
  As a testament to the impact that Mr. Rocco has had on his fellow New 
Mexicans, on October 12 of this year a South Valley Park next to the 
Westside Community Center was named after him: The Richard Rocco Medal 
of Honor Park and a stone monument placed there in his honor. Plans are 
also underway for a bronze bust of Mr. Rocco to be made and placed 
inside the old Armijo School near the park--where he went to school 
growing up. Although seriously ill, Mr. Rocco came to the ceremony 
organized by veterans throughout New Mexico. He called the naming of 
the park ``an honor that I hold above presidents and legislators, 
because these are my people. For them to honor me, it makes me feel so 
good.''
  In addition to his wife, Maria, three children, five grandchildren, 
his mother, one brother and four sisters survive Mr. Rocco. I extend my 
deep condolences to the Rocco family and all who knew him. My thoughts 
and prayers are with them.
  Mr. Speaker, as the only member of the New Mexico congressional 
delegation serving on the Veterans Affairs Committee, I wanted to 
inform my colleagues about this heroic and extraordinary man. Richard 
Rocco's historic and noble acts have given New Mexicans reason to hope, 
reason to be proud, and reason to champion the veteran. I ask my 
colleagues to join with me to pay tribute to Richard Rocco for his 
courageous actions, on that day so long ago.

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