MIA

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My MIA's Information

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PFC Humberto Acosta-Rosario

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Name: Humberto Acosta-Rosario

Rank/Branch: E3/US Army

Unit: Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry (Mechanized); 25th Infantry Division

Date of Birth: 15 January 1947

Home City of Record: Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Date of Loss: 22 August 1968

Country of Loss: South Vietnam

Loss Coordinates: 111535N 1062023E (XT462468)

Status (in 1973): Missing In Action

Category: 2

Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground

Other Personnel in Incident: (Philip T. DeLorenzo, Jr., killed, body recovered)

REMARKS: SYNOPSIS:

Humberto Acosta-Rosario was born January 15,1947. His home at the time he was lost was Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. On August 22, 1968, PFC Acosta-Rosario was serving as a machine gunner on a reconnaissance enforce operation when his unit came under heavy attack by North Vietnamese Regulars and were forced to withdraw. They were in the area of Ben Cui rubber plantation, Tay Ninh Province, near Highway 4 in Tactical Zone III. The unit had established blocking positions in the vicinity when they came under attack. During the withdrawal, Acosta-Rosario became separated from the rest of his unit. After regrouping, it was determined that PFC Acosta-Rosario and another machine gunner, Philip T. DeLorenzo, Jr, were missing from their platoons. After artillery and helicopters had passed suppressive fire into the area, Company B moved back into its original position. In the hours that followed, extensive searches were conducted by B Company. De Lorenzo's body was located and extracted,and both men's M-60 machine guns were found. Fresh graves in the area were investigated, but no further U.S. remains were found. There was no other trace of Acosta-Rosario. Two subsequent intelligence reports received and analyzed by the U.S. Government indicate that Acosta-Rosario was captured in this operation, although the Vietnamese continue to deny knowledge of him or his fate. Humberto Acosta-Rosario was last seen wearing a t-shirt, jungle fatigue pants, a steel pot and a gold Seiko watch. If he is one of the several hundred Americans that evidence indicates are alive, he has spent all of his adult life in captivity. His family would like to know if he is dead or if he is alive.

* On a personal note, if any family member of PFC Acosta-Rosario is reading this, please note that my prayers are with him and with you, and may God gives you the strength to continue to HOPE for his return to Borinquen. I did this because of the admiration I had always felt for all Puerto Ricans who served in Viet-Nam.

UPDATE: I did a little research on Humberto Acosta's MIA status. He was posthumously promoted to SSG. His status is now changed to KIA/ BNR. (All of the POW/MIAs have been declared that way) If anybody from Puerto Rico, especially from the West Coast of the island knows anything about Acosta's Family, please let me know. :-)

"All Biographical and loss information on POWs provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET.
Please check with http://www.asde.com/~pownet/ regularly for updates." ICQ WWPager http://mirabilis.com/9742997
Homepage: http://herry.home.mindspring.com/kc1tn.htm
POW/MIA: http://herry.home.mindspring.com/mia.htm
LEO-MEM: http://herry.home.mindspring.com/erf.htm

Thanks to Doc Melson for helping me here a bit and also for the picture of SSG Acosta.

On a recent trip to PR I was able to visit the Puerto Rican Memorial Monument. Engraved in this memorial are the names of all Puerto Ricans that died while serving in the US Armed Forces (From WW2, Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War and other related incidents). Humberto Acosta's name is in this memorial. Click below to see the pictures I took on this short visit.