Unnamed street to be dedicated to Medal of Honor recipient Published Sept. 9, 2013 By Susan Griggs 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Back in 1952, Airman 2nd Class Richard Etchberger graduated from technical training at Keesler in electronics and radar maintenance. Sept. 16 at 9 a.m., an unnamed Keesler street on the southeast side of Cody Hall is being memorialized for that former student - Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military's highest decoration, in 2010. Etchberger died March 11, 1968, at age 35 after being shot following an overnight battle on Mount Phou Pha Thi at Lima Site 85, a clandestine U.S. radar site in Laos, where he helped maintain equipment that aided the U.S. bombing campaign of North Vietnam. He was credited with saving three comrades before he was killed. Etchberger's family was presented his Air Force Cross in a private ceremony at the Pentagon in 1969, but because his mission was cloaked in secrecy for decades, it took 42 years for Etchberger to receive public acknowledgment for his heroism. "Richard Etchberger lived the Airman's Creed - to never leave an Airman behind, to never falter, to never fail," President Barack Obama declared during the Medal of Honor ceremony. "Valor has no expiration date," said former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz when Etchberger was inducted into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes the day after the Medal of Honor presentation. "The discovery of truth, no matter how long it is delayed, sets the record straight." Lt. Col. Michelle Carns, 338th Training Squadron commander, noted that Etchberger was the 18th Air Force member and only the seventh enlisted Airman to receive the Medal of Honor. "Since the ground radar maintenance course is taught at Cody Hall, our squadron is privileged to have a street named in memory of a former squadron member and radar technician of such distinction," Carns stated. Etchberger was part of a hand-picked team of 40 Airmen whose classified mission involved operating covert radar installations in Laos during the Vietnam War. Nineteen of them staffed Lima Site 85. Since the U.S. military was prohibited from operating in Laos under an international neutrality agreement, team members were actually discharged from the Air Force and hired back as civilians of Lockheed Aviation for the assignment. In spite of having no formal combat training, Etchberger singlehandedly held off an enemy attack with an M-16, while simultaneously directing air strikes into the area and calling for air rescue. Because of his fierce defense and heroic and selfless actions, he was able to deny the enemy access to his position and save the lives of three members of his crew. Etchberger exposed himself to heavy enemy fire in order to place his three surviving injured comrades into rescue slings hanging from the hovering rescue helicopter that airlifted them to safety. Then Etchberger was raised in one of the slings, but he was killed by enemy ground fire that pierced the helicopter's underbelly. The helicopter pilot for this rescue mission, retired Col. Joe Panza, is the guest speaker for the street dedication ceremony. Panza retired in 1992 with 34 years of Navy and Air Force service and now serves as the executive director of the Air University Foundation. Etchberger's son Cory Etchberger will attend the ceremony. Other special guests are former members of Detachment 8, 1st Combat Evaluation Group, who are gathered in Biloxi for a reunion. Etchberger was a member of the 1st CEVG, part of Strategic Air Command.guests are former members of Detachment 8, 1st Combat Evaluation Group, who are gathered in Biloxi for a reunion. Etchberger was a member of the 1st CEVG, part of Strategic Air Command. "We were mostly 303X3 radar operator/repairmen trained at Keesler from the late 1940s through the 1990s, until the career field was dropped by the Air Force," said Emerson "Mac" McAfee, organizer of the reunion. "We were stationed across the U.S. and overseas at radar bomb scoring and electronic warfare sites. We provided training for SAC bombers by using our automatic tracking radar equipment as well as providing electronic warfare simulation. We also provided guidance training with Tactical Air Command and Military Airlift Command aircraft." McAfee said that during the Vietnam War, "we operated seven or eight locations in Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. We were provided target coordinates for bombing activity and directed aircraft to the release point where we gave them the release command." The 1st CEVG lost 19 men during the war, seven in Vietnam and 12 in Laos, including Etchberger. "The 12 men lost at Lima Site 85 in Laos represented the largest Air Force ground conflict loss during the War," according to McAfee. Don Fitzgerald, a ground radar systems instructor in the 338th TRS, is giving a presentation on technological advances in the career field at the reunion group's luncheon at the Bay Breeze Event Center after the dedication ceremony. He spent his 20-year active-duty career in the same Air Force specialty as the reunion group members before rejoining Keesler's training team in 2009 after 12 years in private industry.