Medal of Honor Recipient's Valor Hidden for Decades

CNN ^ | September 21, 201 | Jeanne Meserve

[nickcarraway]

On Tuesday, more than 42 years after Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger died on a Laotian mountaintop, President Obama will award him the Medal of Honor, the military's highest award for bravery. But for decades even Etchberger's own children didn't know about his heroism.

Cory Etchberger was in third grade in 1968, when he was told that his father had died in a helicopter accident in Southeast Asia. At age 29 he learned the truth, when the U.S. Air Force declassified his father's story. "I was stunned," he told CNN during a visit to his hometown of Hamburg, Pennsylvania.

During the Vietnam War, U.S. troops weren't supposed to be in neutral Laos, so Richard Etchberger and a handful of colleagues shed their uniforms and posed as civilians to run a top-secret radar installation high on a Laotian cliff. Called Lima Site 85, it guided U.S. bombers to sites in North Vietnam and parts of Laos under communist control.

The North Vietnamese wanted to eliminate the installation, and early on the morning of March 11, 1968, its soldiers succeeded in scaling the 3,000-foot precipice and launching an attack.

Timothy Castle, of the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence, wrote the book "One Day Too Long: Top Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam." He calls Etchberger "a hero."

Castle said Etchberger, a technician, picked up an M16 rifle, which he barely knew how to use, and ferociously protected his colleagues.

One of them was Stanley Sliz.

"I got hit in both legs," Sliz remembered, "and everybody was screaming and hollering, but they weren't able to get close because of Etch firing at them."

John Daniel still has scars from the shrapnel wounds he got that day.

[Lancey Howard]

What a great story!

I read that one veteran of the Vietnam war complained that Nixon illegally sent him into Cambodia during Christmastime in 1968. Others, like this hero Etchberger, did their jobs and paid the ultimate price in defense of their brothers and their nation.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Great story and thanks for posting.

[Lancey Howard]

(( ping ))

[Neil E. Wright]

R.I.P. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger.

Thank you for your service in the cause of

★ FREEDOM! ★

★ Estimated Value – PRICELESS! ★

[Boogieman]

Back then, we had the will to take the fight to the enemy, borders be damned!

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Watch for Obama choking and coughing on this one.

[vaudine]

Great story except for one thing--was a tech and "barely knew how to use" a rifle? I don't think so. All go through basic and qualify periodically with firearms. Also, since this was a secret operation, I would guess some further special training like Rangers, etc. get.

Anyway, I m glad he was awarded a medal for his family's sake.

vaudine

[Terry Mross]

Kerry was in Viet Nam for what? Three months? in 1968? Nixon was sworn in in 1969. And they slam O’Donnell for something she did when she was 17 years old.

[Zakeet]

Similar article from the Air Force Times.

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

But Castle noted that the full story of Lima Site 85 still isn't known. Ten technicians who were on the Laotian mountaintop with Etchberger, Daniel, and Sliz that March morning in 1968 have never been accounted for.

Yeah, right, John McLame? Right John "The Rat Bastard" Kerry?

You 2 who shut down the hearings and denigrated the families of the our Missing POW's and lent support to one of the most despicable and dark chapters in our history when we abandoned those who were captured and never accounted for.

Ah, but it was more important to "normalize" relations with that barbaric, commie, country, Vietnam at all costs, to including abandoning our military patriots without forcing Vietnam to account for every single one and dismissing out of hand all the myriad reports of sightings.

May God forgive these despicable charlatans; I never will!

[caver]

What is Barry getting out of this?

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

“But Castle noted that the full story of Lima Site 85 still isn't known. Ten technicians who were on the Laotian mountaintop with Etchberger, Daniel, and Sliz that March morning in 1968 have never been accounted for.”
~~~
From what I read this was a GATOR site,,,
( ground air tactical omnie),,

They gave the B-52’s their position,,,

Sometimes my unit would “shine” due East...

[Girlene]

Thanks, Lancey.

[LeonardFMason]

Many years ago MOH winners were accorded the recognition they deserved. They were celebrated and revered.

This story gets scant mention while a PIG like Lindsay Lohan gets wall to wall coverage for failing 2 drug tests.

Truman said, while awarding an MOH, that he would rather win one of these(MOH) than be President of the U.S..

I am sure Obama shares the same thought. /EXTREME sarc.

[mad_as_he$$]

There are many American bodies in that part of Laos. Their names will never be told because of the circumstance(s).

[sport]

And more in remote placea of the Soviet Union, China, and Southeast Asia. Those who were not killed, married local women and had[have] families there. I read that some where years ago.

[ASOC]

Why guess?

Go to the Lima 85 site A former TACAN site, they dropped an AN/TSQ-81 radar to assit with bombing in North Vietnam. Photos at site.

[jazusamo]

Chief Master Sgt. Etchberger is very deserving of being awarded the MOH and his family should be very proud as I’m sure they are, a shame it took this long to be awarded.

I read the book some years back and it’s truly an amazing story. It was a miracle that some survived and if not for CMSgt. Etchberger it’s doubtful any would have.

Thanks for posting and the ping.