THE WALL OF FACES

The “Friends of Rocky Versace” remember one of Rocky’s fellow alumni from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Colonel Gregory Inman Barras, USMA class of 1955, USAF, on what would've been his 89th birthday - 13 October 2021.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrances from those who wore your MIA bracelet are touching. I am heartened that you were finally returned home after so many years.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) website at the below link, the remains of former MIA Colonel Gregory Inman Barras, USMA class of 1955, USAF, were accounted for on 18 November 1998:

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000rr46XEAQ

As of the latest DPAA updates (24 September 2020 & 9 October 2020), Col. Barras is one of 1,053 Americans accounted for/identified from Southeast Asia Vietnam War MIAs. Of 337 USMA graduates who made the ultimate sacrifice in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, he is one of 11 former MIAs whose remains were recovered. Ten graduates remain MIA.

https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/VietnamAccounting/2020_stats/Statistics%20as%20of%20September%2024%202000.pdf?ver=mP1nlSn9kgr3HdKwtVZSVg%3d%3d

https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/VietnamAccounting/pmsea_acc_ALL_20201009.pdf

There are still 1,585 Americans unaccounted for in Southeast Asia from the Vietnam War:
https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/VietnamAccounting/pmsea_una_ALL_20201009.pdf

On the date of his loss, 18 December 1968, Major Barras was the pilot of a single-seat A-1H propeller aircraft assigned to the 22nd Special Operations Squadron, 56th Special Operations Wing operating out of Nakhon Phanom RTAB, on a night armed reconnaissance mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. During the attack on enemy trucks, his aircraft crashed and exploded. His remains were not recovered. While in MIA status, the U.S. Air Force promoted him with his contemporaries to the rank of Colonel until the DoD declared him deceased.

Information about the air incident involving former MIA Colonel Gregory Inman Barras, USMA Class of 1955, USAF, 22d Special Operations Squadron (SOS), is available at the Fixed-Wing Air Losses in Vietnam website at this link/URL:

https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2065

Former MIA Colonel Gregory Inman Barras, USMA class of 1955, USAF, has his name chiseled into one of the "Courts of the Missing" (Court "A," Vietnam War, Air Force Section) at the Honolulu Memorial in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (the "Punchbowl") on the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii. See the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) website at this link/URL:

https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/barras%3Dgregory

Because his remains were recovered and buried in a known gravesite, Col. Barras has a "Rosette" placed next to his name on the Honolulu Memorial.