Medal of Honor

One of the standard WH ceremonies that will never get old to me is the Medal of Honor ceremony. I will always consider it an honor to cover these events because they remind me, in a real way, all that our men and women in uniform sacrifice on behalf of my freedom. It's one thing to read news accounts "6 US Soldiers Die in Afghanistan Firefight" or "4000 War Casualties Since Fighting Began". But unless you know a particular soldier who has sacrificed his life for our country, the average person really doesn't hear their story. It really becomes more real to me when I can hear every detail of what exactly happened while they were fighting on my behalf. It's chilling and humbling to know the lengths that these soldiers, airmen, marines, sailors will go to fight. And when POTUS decides to award the Medal of Honor to one of our military, I perk up and pay attention.

As you might recall, last year, I worked on the story of the Medal of Honor awarded to Sgt. Jared Monti. I was deeply touched by his story and the interview we did with his dad. Delving deep into the circumstances of his death was really a moving experience for me and made me appreciate what those men and women do on a daily basis.

This year, POTUS has announced several new Medal of Honor awards and on Tuesday, he held another ceremony. This time it was for Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger. The thing that made this ceremony unique (at least from my perspective) was that this was for someone who had died in Vietnam. It took four decades for his heroism and valor to be recognized with this honor. Sgt. Etchberger was working in Laos on a classified mission and basically fought off the North Vietnamese who were attacking his secret mission. He was the last man standing and was loading all of his wounded airmen on a helicopter, exposing himself to enemy fire every time. Then he himself got struck by gunfire and died by the time the helicopter landed. You can read more about him here or about the history of the Medal of Honor here.

Anyway, for this ceremony, Sgt. Etchberger's three sons were there to receive the Medal of Honor on behalf of their father. To see these three grown men, who were extremely young when their dad died, shedding tears more than 40 years later was extremely touching. POTUS said "Today also marks another chapter in a larger story of our nation finally honoring that generation of Vietnam veterans who served with dedication and courage but all too often were shunned when they came home, which was a disgrace that must never happen again." These men felt like their dad had finally gotten the recognition and respect he deserved.