For 42 years, our nation could not properly honor one of our heroes of the Vietnam War. That’s because the hero, Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger, of Hamburg, Pa., was on a top secret mission when he was killed.
Etchberger was an electronics expert who had no formal combat training. But in March 1968, he gave up his life to save his comrades. He was helping evacuate wounded men from a radar station in Laos, which borders Vietnam, when he single-handedly fended off Communist North Vietnamese soldiers. After getting three men on their way to safety, he died when enemy troops’ fire struck the helicopter that was trying to rescue him.
Now, President Barack Obama has posthumously presented Etchberger the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military honor. If Etchberger had survived, “He would be here just saying, ‘I was doing my job up there,'” his son told reporters at the White House ceremony.
But it was a job that showed tremendous courage and that cost him his life. Decades later, we acknowledge his selfless service with humble gratitude.