Ken Harbaugh tells the stories of service members who have distinguished themselves through an act of valor. These stories feature recipients from the Civil War to present day, including a few who were originally overlooked for the medal.
On a classified assignment, CMSgt Etchberger’s radar site came under heavy attack from NVA forces. Etchberger was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving his fellow airmen at the cost of his own life.
Welcome to the Medal of Honor podcast, brought to you in partnership with the National Medal of Honor Museum. I’m Ken Harbaugh. In each episode, we’ll learn about a different service member who has distinguished him or herself through an act of valor.
Chief Master Sergeant Richard Loy Etchberger was born on March 5th, 1933 in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
In 1951, after graduating from Hamburg High School he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, becoming a radio operator. He became a radar specialist due to his interest in electronics and was assigned to the 11th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron in Ogden, Utah.
Etchberger was later promoted to Technical Sergeant, and in 1965, he received orders overseas to Clark Air Base in the Philippines to serve in the Vietnam War. He was assigned to 5th Tactical Control Maintenance Squadron.
Two years into his deployment, Etchberger was about to execute orders stateside when he accepted an offer from the CIA to operate a top secret radar site, known as Lima Site 85, in Laos. As the Vietnam War escalated, Lima Site 85 was used by the CIA to control bombing sorties for targets in North Vietnam and Laos. The location of the radar allowed them to direct over a quarter of air strikes into North Vietnam and Laos in 1968. However, the accuracy of the strikes on nearby targets raised the suspicions of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and they began searching for hidden American radars.
On March 11th, 1968, Etchberger and Lima Site 85 came under attack from NVA forces. The small militia protecting them was overrun and his crew was either all dead or wounded. Etchberger grabbed a rifle and called for aircraft to evacuate the casualties, fighting off the NVA to buy time. When friendly aircraft arrived, he repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire by shuttling three wounded airmen to its rescue slings. Once all the remaining wounded were loaded, Etchberger climbed in himself, but was fatally wounded.
Due to the top secret nature of the mission, attempts to nominate Etchberger for the Medal of Honor were initially rejected, especially since U.S. service members were not supposed to be in Laos. Etchberger was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, his service branch’s second highest award, at a secret ceremony. Once Lima Site 85 was declassified, other veterans lobbied for Etchberger to receive the award. On September 21st, 2010, Etchberger was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House. His three sons accepted the award on his behalf. His other awards include the Purple Heart, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.
The Medal of Honor Podcast is a production of Evergreen Podcasts.
Nathan Corson is our producer and engineer, León Pescador is our script writer, Declan Rohrs is our script editor and recording engineer, and I’m Ken Harbaugh.
We are proud to support the National Medal of Honor Museum. To learn more, and to support their mission, got to mohmuseum.org. Thanks for listening.
