Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger has finally received the recognition that he deserved back in 1968. Etchberger will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his saving the lives of his comrades in a battle in Laos — at the loss of his own life. The problem is that his heroism occurred in a place where our government stated publicly that there were no combat troops. To cover that lie, Etchberger’s bravery had to be buried with the truth.
While the military wanted Etchberger honored at the time, President Lyndon Johnson refused to reveal that the United States had lied to the public and international community (even though Laos itself was aware of our troops).
Etchberger was part of a secret U.S. Air Force radar base used to guide bombers that was located just 120 miles from Hanoi in North Vietnam.
In March of 1968, over 3000 North Vietnamese troops attacked the site, called Lima Site 85, that was defended by fewer than a couple dozen U.S. airmen and about a thousand Laotian soldiers.
Eight Americans were killed and several more wounded. Etchberger deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire “in order to place his three surviving wounded comrades in the rescue slings permitting them to be airlifted to safety.”
Legislation was need to waive the usual rule that such honors have to be awarded within two years of the subject action. Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota (Etchberger was from Bismarck) helped push for the reconsideration.
Congratulations to the Etchberger family which deserves this recognition from a grateful nation. It is no replacement for their loved one, but it finally allows a nation to honor his selfless courage.
Well done, Master Sergeant, well done.
Source: CNN
mespo,
Sad but true. Or as Stephen King’s Roland Deschain might say, “They have forgotten the face of their father.”
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori – vel tardus memor.
Mike Spindell– A slight correction to your first sentence: “As Smedley-Baker said war is a racket”. Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, not only said it, he wrote a pamphlet titled “War is a Racket” in 1935. Sadly, Butler is little remembered today, but well worth reading about. He was awarded 2 Congressional Medals of Honor and earlier was awarded its equivalent “Brevet Medal” at a time when officers were not elegible for a Congressional Medal. He had fought in China, Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and as he said “I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street”. In 1931 Butler made some derogatory remarks about Mussolini in a speech and was arrested and ordered court-martialed by President Hoover. The court-martial was dropped due to a hostile public reaction. Later he became a strong supporter of the 1932 Bonus Marchers and a vocal critic of American interventionism for the protection of American corporate interests overseas. Early in FDR’s first term Butler was approached by wealthy fascist Wall Street figures to lead a takeover of the White House by American Legion members. Butler passed this information to FDR and the putsch was prevented and the story was suppressed for many years. The books “War is a Racket” and “The Plot to Seize the White House” by Jules Archer are available at Barnes&Noble. I apologize for this lengthy off-topic post, but I find Smedley Butler to be a fascinating character and one I wish we had with us today.
FFN,
You have a political point to make. Why do you need to deny this man’s selfless heroism to make it?
I’m with BIL and the oh-so-succinct MKULTRA.
Otteray Scribe,
I understand the level of emotion on this subject. I think war is a terrible tragedy and that no one should have to pay its costs — it is a practice better avoided, which is often quite possible, but rarely are alternatives pursued by the hegemon.
However, I do think that many, because of their emotion and the involvement of friends and family in US-directed wars, want to believe that what their loved ones are sacrificing for is somehow good and just. It’s a devastating revelation to come to the conclusion that someone you love had to die for a lie or an unjust cause.
I don’t mean to target this comment specifically at you — I have no idea what your situation is (or your son’s) and am speaking rather generally, so I hope you don’t take my comments as a personal attack.
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/timeline.htm
Like Iraq, who knows when it dawns with certainty on the troops that they have been used like so much fodder…and knowing they have been used does not make it easier to do such a courageous thing.
God bless and thank you.
Anonymously Yours,
You’re completely misunderstanding my point. My point is not that participating in an aggressive war in Indochina was immoral because it was clandestine. Rather, my point is that participating in an aggressive war in Indochina was immoral because it was an invasion of 3 sovereign states’ territory that killed millions of their people, which has effects that still linger today — unexploded ordinance, dioxin poisoning, etc.
The issue is not what you happen to do otherwise if you do refuse to participate in a criminal act. The germane moral issue is if you make yourself an accomplice to the crime by participating in it.
Should we honor the people that knowingly and willingly participated in these crimes just because the government says we should?
Normally the comment section in this blog is very critical of government power. But when it comes to “support the troops”-type advocacy, the adulation for the wisdom of the state is reflexive. MKULTRA’s comment being a case in point.
FFN, you seem to have a fundamental lack of understanding of how things work in the military. First of all, he was NOT in the Army as you state, he was a Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. As for a draft card, he enlisted in 1951, during the time the North Koreans were trying to overrun the Korean Peninsula. He stayed in the USAF, rising to the rank of Chief Master Sergeant (pay grade E-9)the highest enlisted rank in the Air Force. He had a job to do, followed the orders of his superior officers, and had zero to do with the politics of the war. One does not rise to the level of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force by not obeying orders.
I do not wish to engage in a flame war with anyone. It is just that one of my sons sleeps forever in the National Cemetery, so I am more than a little touchy about this subject.
As Smedley-Baker said war is a racket. However, true that is it is our youth, filled with false ideas of patriotism, that go through hell hell, surrender their limbs and lives in misguided foreign adventures. Their sacrifices should be noted even if they and we were misled.
FormerFederalNothing .
Fuck You.
Lets see, uh, CO, hmmmm, didn’t some president get his ass chewed for saying ok guys you can come home now…all is forgiven….wasn’t this a campaign issue that helped get him defeated. Its all peanuts to me. I didn’t have to go, but looking back on the way these people were treated even if they survived an unwar it was fairly shitting…
So the question is I can get a deferment to do coke and fly jet over Alabama or my family didn’t have money to send me to school and my number get hit…..so then I do the honorable thing and join before I am enlisted involuntary…..damn choices keep popping up everywhere…..
Now that I am stuck in this hell hole unwar, so I want to be sitting next to the guy firing the machine guns or the Lts wearing the shinny things…
I think I want to be as far away from the unwar as possible…He did what he had to do…he died while doing it and to say that he is not deserving of the medal, because our government said the action didn’t exist is beyond my comprehension…..
Anonymously Yours and everybody else,
I understand that he would face punishment for disobeying orders (or whatever the exact charge may be) for refusing to go to Laos and/or refusing to bomb people in Vietnam, etc.
The question is not 1) if he would be punished if he failed to do what the state told him to do nor 2) if, taking his predicament when he died as a given, he acted courageously. I think we all agree on those two points.
My disagreement is elsewhere. OS says “He had nothing to do with the politics that sent him there.” I contend that is false. He could have absolutely refused to be deployed or have been a conscientious objector. (By warning of the chance of punishment if this happens, those of you in the thread have already implicitly conceded its possibility.) Or, he could have burned his draft card in the first place and never have entered the army (of course, that assumes a bit about how he got there — perhaps he joined the army because it was the only feasible choice given his state of poverty, for instance.)
Everyone on this thread recognizes that doing something on principle often involves sacrifice — hence all the praise for the nominee. Etchberger would have faced hardship if he made a principled decision not to be party to criminal acts as well. Thus, we shouldn’t pretend that his earlier decision didn’t happen.
FormerFederalNothing,
And so off to the brig and being charge with deleriction with duty and treason if he did not obey a lawfully given command. All commands are lawful until overturned by another commanding officer.
I am pulling this out of my ass but during an Article 27 hearing I was once involved in, (and this one was not personal) a military member who fail to obey the lawful orders of their superiors risk serious consequences such as an Article 90 hearing UCMJ, which makes it a crime for a military member to WILLFULLY disobey a superior commissioned officer. Since it is possible to be given a lateral command he could have faced an Article 91 hearing as well for it is a crime to WILLFULLY disobey a superior Noncommissioned or Warrant Officer.
And here is the kick ass one….. Article 92 makes it a crime to disobey any lawful order. In time of war, oh yeah were were not at war the disobedience does not have to be “willful.” Just failure to act….
So, he in your statement was crewed in any direction he went. I say Honor ALL Veterans, especially those that followed even unlawful order. What was that guys name that leveled the entire village….and he was court marshaled…Lt…somebody…and lets not even bring Ollie into this one…he was from what I know following the leaders order.
Sounds like the award is well deserved.
Thanks, Chief.
There were no doubt many soldiers in the fight that day, but Chief Master Sergeant Etchberger was an Airman. And his comrades would have addressed him not as Sergeant or even Master Sergeant, but by the title he earned by attaining the highest enlisted rank in the Air Force: Chief.
Such valor, squandered in the service of a sociopath’s ambition. It is easy for Congress to recognize Chief Etchberger, and fitting despite the cheap self-serving motives that underlie virtually everything our Congressmen do. It would be harder, but no less fitting, for Congress to demand justice for those who sent the Chief to die.
FFN,
To echo other posts here, the man’s actions were the very definition of heroism: selfless courage to save others. As to covert action, that doesn’t negate the heroism and I submit the proper parties to take issue with over it are the people who issued the orders (both civilian and military).
I trust his name is also on the Wall.
Well done, soldier.
Politicians may ignore the sacrifice in order to protect their own slimy reputations but, in the end, truth wins. Present day pols take note … eventually it all comes out.
I doubt very seriously if a Chief Master Sgt. has much discretion as to where his duty station would be.
Congratulations to the Etchberger family.
FFN, his sacrifice was commendable because he deliberately made himself a target in order to save his buddies. A good soldier reports to his duty station as ordered. He had nothing to do with the politics that sent him there, but protected his buddies at the cost of his own life. It was for heroism and gallantry of this magnitude that the Medal of Honor was created.
As for Chief Master Sergeant Richard Etchberger: well done, hero. May your family and loved ones find the peace that evaded you.
I don’t know if I agree with honoring anyone that knowingly participates in American-backed clandestine aggression. I suppose his sacrifice is commendable if one ignores the situation that brought him there.
I’m still holding out for the prosecution of Kissinger, et al.