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
“Congratulations on being the second person in this thread to draw the “peace = giving in to Hitler” connection. And on your inability to distinguish Vietnam from WWII.”
Congratulations on being unable to distinguish when counter-example is being provided to draw the distinction between a just war and an unjust war just as you are unable to distinguish an individuals act of heroism even if occurs in unjust circumstance.
Elaine,
Jim Henson was a wizard … he saw Cheney comin’ and tried to warn us!
Blouise,
I loved the Muppets!
If one of the guys with a gun is Dick Cheney–you’d better BEWARE!
FFN,
“The whole “soldiers being spat upon” phenomenon is probably false…”
I knew that it may have been false–but I don’t know for sure that it never happened…anywhere. That’s why I wrote the following to Slart: “I think most people who didn’t live through those times have heard the narrative of how returning soldiers were mistreated by anti-war protesters–even spat upon.”
My favorite protest song:
Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth (Something’s Happening Here)” (recorded 1967)(composer – Stephen Stills, her guitarist)
First allow me to give you a short history of this protest song, followed by the lyrics and then a much later rendition by the Muppets to protest hunting … a good protest song has many uses.
History
“In the book Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, Stephen Stills tells the story of this song’s origin: “I had had something kicking around in my head. I wanted to write something about the kids that were on the line over in Southeast Asia that didn’t have anything to do with the device of this mission, which was unraveling before our eyes. Then we came down to Sunset from my place on Topanga with a guy – I can’t remember his name – and there’s a funeral for a bar, one of the favorite spots for high school and UCLA kids to go and dance and listen to music.
[Officials] decided to call out the official riot police because there’s three thousand kids sort of standing out in the street; there’s no looting, there’s no nothing. It’s everybody having a hang to close this bar. A whole company of black and white LAPD in full Macedonian battle array in shields and helmets and all that, and they’re lined up across the street, and I just went ‘Whoa! Why are they doing this?’ There was no reason for it. I went back to Topanga, and that other song turned into ‘For What It’s Worth,’ and it took as long to write as it took me to settle on the changes and write the lyrics down. It all came as a piece, and it took about fifteen minutes.”
Lyrics
There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, now, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
My favorite version came from the Muppets
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m0yCM5uhQU&fs=1&hl=en_US]
Marnie,
This is getting a bit off topic, but there are some (and I am partial to this view) that take the opinion that America won the Vietnam war. When determining whether a country “won” or “lost” a war, one must ask 1) what were the objectives of the war and 2) were those objectives achieved? It seems that the objectives of the Vietnam War were to punish a country for defiance of the Western agenda and send a message to those who otherwise might be considering independent development that they would be mercilessly attacked to the point of obliteration for it. This sense, the US won the war because the “domino effect” of independent development in Asia was avoided.
Vince Treacy,
Congratulations on being the second person in this thread to draw the “peace = giving in to Hitler” connection. And on your inability to distinguish Vietnam from WWII.
Incidentally, I would like to see an analysis of the whole “failing to militarily confront Hitler in the years leading up to 1939 would have prevented WWII” claim. Just the very reason that it’s a sacrosanct tenet of Conventional Wisdom cited by every politician that is drooling for another use of American military force makes me suspicious of its validity.
Anonymously Yours,
“I agreed with everything you have said and realize the last paragraph was said in sarcasm, unfortunately there are too many ASS HOLES doing just that. ”
I’m interested, who are these people who are supposedly protesting soldiers’ funerals today? Westboro Baptist Church doesn’t count (they “protest” everything).
Mike,
I think Chomsky would agree with you on many of your critiques — that he was not participating in the antiwar movement earlier enough and more vehemently, and that there are certainly a whole panoply of unknown people that deserve recognition for their sacrifices.
I think, however, it would be false to say that he has been completely uncommitted or ineffective to the anti-Vietnam War cause. He wrote plenty of books about the subject, participated in rallies and resistance, and was on Nixon’s “enemies list” and almost prosecuted for his opposition.
Outside of Vietnam, he has taken up the cause of many who were almost otherwise forgotten by the West. To name a few examples: the East Timorese, the Kurds in Turkey and the Palestinians.
Howard Zinn, in his introduction to Chomsky’s American Power and the New Mandarins, relates on tale of Chomsky’s effectiveness. He flew to a Turkey to testify for the defense of a publisher who was being prosecuted for publishing Chomsky’s book which discusses American-to-Turkish weapons sales that were used to massacre Kurds. His mere appearance in Turkey made the prosecutor withdraw the charges, fearful of the publicity that the proceedings might bring to the subject. One small example, to be sure, but there are many more.
Elaine M,
The whole “soldiers being spat upon” phenomenon is probably false: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spitting_Image
Elaine,
One of my math professors (who got his BS from Princeton in 1969 and his PhD from Berkley in 1973 – any inferences that you might draw about his politics from this are absolutely correct) was invited to give a talk at Kent state (in the late 80s) and told us about what a surreal experience it was for him. He talked about a statue with a patina of rust – except for the bullet holes (because people would put their fingers in the bullet holes). I went to Kent State for the 25th anniversary of May 4th and found it very disquieting to think about what it would have been like to have been there a quarter century before and how I would have acted…
After seeing the makeshift shrine on the asphalt that day the following line became very powerful to me:
“What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?
How could you run if you know?”
Blouise,
I still have–somewhere in my house–an old campaign bumper sticker that reads: “Flick Dick.”
I am proud to live in the only state in the US that didn’t go for Tricky Dick in the 1972 elections. I remember standing outside my polling place with a McGovern sign for many hours.
mespo–
Thanks for posting the video. I had forgotten that song. The anti-war singers I remember best are people like Joan Baez and Pete Seeger–who wrote “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”
Slarti,
“Having been born in 1969 my memories of the Vietnam era are mostly nonexistent – I should have qualified my statement so as not to imply that all anti-war protesters were against the soldiers. Sorry. The fact that some of the protesters anger was misplaced towards the troops (essentially painting the group with the war crimes of individuals) was, in my opinion, a tragedy.”
I think most people who didn’t live through those times have heard the narrative of how returning soldiers were mistreated by anti-war protesters–even spat upon. I’m sure some soldiers were treated poorly–but that was only part of the story.
Those were indeed difficult times that changed our country. (They changed me too.) One of the incidents that speaks to those difficult times was the Kent State shootings in 1970 when Ohio National Guardsmen fired at students on campus–killing four.
Blouise,
What is hidden from us is that there could be real powers that be that can overrule any President. Remember JFK and the evidence he wanted out of Viet Nam and to rein in the CIA, with its’ Mafia connections. LBJ seems to have known from the beginning that the war would be a failure, but perhaps he had no choice but to continue. He did wonders with Civil Rights and in health care. A flawed man of course, but then what President isn’t? I would have rathered his election in 1968 than Nixon’s, because we can see how Nixon’s secret peace plan worked out.
FFN,
One final point I’d like to address. If you are talking about heroic philosophers and leaders I would invite you to read about Saul Alinsky, who gained fame by actually working out in the streets.
“There were lots of Vietnam vets involved in the anti-war/peace movement. My husband attended a peace rally on Boston Common. Many of us who were young at the time didn’t blame the soldiers–in fact, many of us had friends and family serving in Vietnam. One of my good friends was killed in Vietnam in 1969.”
Elaine,
you are quite correct. However, the so-called leaders of the peace movement were a different story. They, like Jane Fonda, made fools of those of us who wanted to bring the troops home safely.
I have all the paraphernalia from Johnson’s presidential campaign in my attic … preserved all these years. I hang onto the stuff because to this day I hate him for Nam and I love him for Civil Rights … I have never resolved the conflict within myself … I’m my own little Nam and my attic is still occupied.
“I’m not trying to “intellectualize people’s suffering.” I’m trying to change the attitudes in this country that lead us to glory in war.”
FFN,
You miss my point. Chomsky is an “equal opportunity anathemizer” criticizing all on the political spectrum who don’t completely adhere to his analysis. My point is that to institute real change one must braoden the range of those who are allied for change. Chomsky turns off all those who don’t fully accept him. You and I agree about the evil and futility of Viet Nam, Iraq & Afghanistan. However, I understand that there are people that can become allied in the struggle against these wars, if they are not insulted. Many good Americans have children and kin in the military and they repect that commitment.
LBJ, Nixon, Bush and Cheney are the war criminals, not those young people who were conned into sacrifice. By denying their ability to be heroic, even if the cause is bad, is to alienate potential allies who can help us end this madness.
“This obscenity is only compounded by trying to convince the world that such an activity is noble, and everyone on this thread is eating it up.”
None of us is trying to make the war noble. We are celebrating someone who selflessly gave his life for his comrades. By doing so we are actually expanding the base of people that can be convinced of the wars futility, rather than alienating them.
“This is just silly. He’s been one of the most effective peace activists on the planet.”
Could you give me some examples of his effectiveness as a peace activist? I know he’s got a cushy professorial job, a good authors income and appears a lot on TV and forums. But what peace exactly has he been able to bring about?
As for me I’ve actually saved three lives from suicide. Two others from insulin shock and assisted in the treatment of people who were addicted and also had AXIS I psychiatric diagnoses. This is just a small part of my career. While a self promoter like Chomsky was working on his professorial tenure, I was constantly putting my career chances on the line by refusing to follow the stupid policies of my superiors. I’m not and never will be famous or wealthy, nor do I care to be. The most important accomplishments for me have been to raise a family and have time to spend with them.
Chomsky’s main goal has been in service of his ego and comfort.
He has found a nice niche for himself and talks a good game. Tell me though has he ever tried to clean feces from the floor of a schizophrenic client who we were trying to maintain in his lifelong apartment in his community, I have. The diffference between people like me and Chomsky is we actually walked the walk and didn’t reap the financial awards and the beatification
he has achieved.
Slarti,
Thank you for weighing in ………..
Elaine,
Having been born in 1969 my memories of the Vietnam era are mostly nonexistent – I should have qualified my statement so as not to imply that all anti-war protesters were against the soldiers. Sorry. The fact that some of the protesters anger was misplaced towards the troops (essentially painting the group with the war crimes of individuals) was, in my opinion, a tragedy.
Swarthmore mom,
If I recall correctly Marshall argued as Solicitor General before the Sct the case of Brown vs Bd of Education. I am unsure if he argued all aspects of the case as there was various segments. If I remember correctly he was on at the same time as one of my favorite Jurist and that was Brennan. For human and civil rights in the criminal arena you could not get much better than that Duo….
I even look on LBJ in a different way now. He appointed an attorney who worked for the NAACP to the Supreme Court. That was revolutionary at that time.
Elaine M:
Here’s a favorite tune from that time:
Slarti,
“In my opinion the tragic mistake of Vietnam protesters was to ever think that the soldiers were the enemy rather than the civilian leaders and others high in the chain of command.”
I remember those days well. There were plenty of protests against the government and civilian leaders. There were lots of Vietnam vets involved in the anti-war/peace movement. My husband attended a peace rally on Boston Common. Many of us who were young at the time didn’t blame the soldiers–in fact, many of us had friends and family serving in Vietnam. One of my good friends was killed in Vietnam in 1969.
LBJ decided not to run in 1968 because the war had made him and his administration so unpopular.
Following are some of the protest chants form the Vietnam anti-war movement. The first three are the ones I recall best.
“Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?”
“Hell no, we won’t go”
“One, two, three, four! We don’t want your fucking war!”
**********
“Johnson lied. People died.”
“Eighteen today, dead tomorrow”
“Bring our boys home”
“LBJ – pull out like your old man should have!”