[agonyea]

At last a fitting reward for a job well done:

Airman killed in 1968 awarded Medal of Honor


Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger single-handedly held off enemy force

By Scott Fontaine - Staff writer

Posted : Tuesday Sep 21, 2010 16:34:42 EDT

President Obama gave on Tuesday the nation’s highest honor to an airman who died saving three of his comrades during a secret assignment in 1968.

The three sons of Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger accepted the Medal of Honor on behalf of their father at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. The honor comes after a years-long campaign that relied on the efforts of family members, airmen who had never met Etchberger, Defense Department bureaucrats and lawmakers.

Etchberger was killed minutes after saving his fellow airmen as they evacuated a radar site on a mountaintop inside Laos, but the political sensitivity of the mission dissuaded Pentagon officials at the time from approving the Medal of Honor.

He instead received the Air Force Cross in a private ceremony, and his children were told their father died in a helicopter crash.

“Today your nation fully acknowledges and fully honors your father’s bravery,” Obama told Etchberger’s three sons, Steve Wilson, Rich Etchberger and Cory Etchberger.

“Even though it has been 42 years, it’s never too late to do the right thing. It’s never too late to pay tribute to our Vietnam veterans and their families,” the president said during a speech before a who’s who of the national-security apparatus, including top officials from the Defense Department, Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency.

Etchberger was the top enlisted airman serving at a remote radar outpost in Laos dubbed Lima Site 85, which allowed American bombers to strike deep inside North Vietnam during bad weather and at night. The site became targets of enemy attacks just months after it went online. Enemy troops slowly pushed their way toward the mountaintop installation, and on March 11, 1968, they launched a two-pronged attack from the lone path leading to the site and from the sheer cliff on the other side.

Etchberger and others took cover from enemy fire on a small ledge. For hours throughout the night, he directed aerial attacks, returned fire and kicked away grenades. When a CIA helicopter arrived to evacuate the men, Etchberger braved enemy fire to ensure three others were airlifted to safety before he boarded the aircraft.

As the helicopter lifted off, a burst of bullets pierced the underbelly. One struck Etchberger, who died before the helo reached the nearest military base.

The act of putting his own life in danger to save others represents is the essence of the American military, Obama said.

“Dick Etchberger was the very definition of an NCO – a leader determined to take care of his men,” he said.

Many of those gathered for Tuesday’s ceremony will be at Wednesday’s event at the Pentagon that will see Etchberger inducted into the military’s Hall of Heroes.

In a meeting with reporters after the event, Rich Etchberger said his father would accept the honor with modesty if he were alive. He was the kind of man who demanded things done right but always looked out for others, his son said.

“My dad would be very humbled about it,” Rich Etchberger said. “One of the thing she really impressed on us as kids was that you have a job to do. He was that kind of person. … He was the kind of guy, he would be here saying, ‘I was just doing my job up there.’”