Medal of Honor finally for Richard Etchberger KIA in Laos

Richard Etchberger was killed in Laos by N. Vietnamese.

Forty-two years on, a posthumous award for a Pa. veteran
By Robert Moran

Inquirer Staff Writer

Richard Etchberger died in Laos in 1968, saving fellow Americans at a top-secret radar station overrun by North Vietnamese commandos.

Etchberger, who grew up north of Reading, was nominated that year for the Medal of Honor. But there was a problem: The United States was not supposed to have troops in Laos. President Lyndon B. Johnson declined to award the medal.

On July 7 of this year, Etchberger's son, Cory, received a phone call. "Will you please hold for the president?" a woman asked.

President Obama then told Cory Etchberger that his father would finally receive the Medal of Honor.

"It's been a long time coming," Obama told Etchberger, 51, of Schwenksville, Montgomery County.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100904_Forty-two_years_on__a_posthumous_award_for_a_Pa__veteran.html#ixzz0yYqPVph0
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