EarlPomeroy

Washington, Sep 22 - Steve Wilson remembers his father, Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger, used to go on temporary duty but he never knew where he went.

His father did not return one of those times. He was killed in action in Laos while rescuing fellow comrades from North Vietnamese.

After a 42-year-wait, on Tuesday at a White House ceremony Wilson and his brothers, Cory Etchberger and Richard Etchberger, and their families accepted from President Barack Obama the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor.

Chief Master Sgt. Etchberger, a native of Hamburg, Pa., was stationed at a radar site north of Bismarck during the Vietnam War.

Wilson, who spoke to The Minot Daily News while he and his brothers and families visited Rep. Earl Pomeroy's office after the White House ceremony, said he was in the seventh grade when the family moved to Bismarck and his dad was part of building the radar site north of the city.

"He would go on temporary duty back and forth. We never knew where he was going," said Wilson, who is Etchberger's oldest son.

On March 11, 1968, North Vietnamese commandos stormed a radar station in Laos and Etchberger led several men to a ledge where they fought off the Vietnamese and waited for helicopter rescue. Etchberger deliberately exposed himself to enemy fire in order to place his three surviving wounded comrades in rescue slings, saving their lives, but was fatally shot in the helicopter as it carried him and his fellow men away, according to the account provided by Pomeroy's office.

Obama, in presenting the award, said Etchberger's sons never knew for years where their father went. They learned their mother knew where he was going but she was sworn to secrecy and never told her sons until years later.

Obama said Etchberger was a radar technician who had been hand picked for the secret assignment. With a small team of men, he served at the summit of one of the tallest mountains in Laos. He said the men manned a tiny radar station, guiding American pilots in the air campaign against North Vietnam. As a technician, he said Etchberger had no formal combat training and had only recently been issued a rifle.

Pomeroy said Etchberger deserved to be awarded the Medal of Honor 40 years ago but was denied for fear it would embarrass the United States and bring attention to their illegal radar station in neutral territory. Etchberger and his men were stationed at a secret radar base in Laos. Etchberger was instead awarded the Air Force Cross, the military's second highest honor.

Friends of Etchberger's family contacted Pomeroy's office in 2004, asking for help to have Etchberger's Air Force Cross upgraded o the Medal of Honor.

Pomeroy secured the authorization for the medal in a bill signed into law by President Bush in October 2008, and advocated for Etchberger to receive the medal.

"I am so honored to have been a part of the effort that recognized this true American hero. Chief Etchberger embodies the extraordinary valor that the Medal of Honor celebrates he was incredibly brave and selfless in the heat of combat and he saved the lives of many of his fellow men," Pomeroy said.

Wilson, whose wife, Kathy, is from Bismarck, praised Pomeroy and other North Dakotans for standing behind them from the beginning in the effort to obtain the Medal of Honor for their father.

"They've just been phenomenal," he said.

The Wilsons live in southern California, Richard Etchberger in Vernal, Utah, and Cory Etchberger in Philadelphia.

Military top brass, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, were among those attending the ceremony.