Matt Proietti - At All Costs

A T A LL C OSTS

T HE T RUE S TORY OF
V IETNAM W AR H ERO
D ICK E TCHBERGER

M ATT P ROIETTI

Copyright 2015, CMSGT Richard Etchberger

Foundation & Matthew P. Proietti

ISBN: 978-0-9860831-0-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014919165

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Printed in the United States of America.

To Americas Vietnam War veterans

A man of character in peace is a man of courage in war.

Lord Moran
AKA Dr. Charles McMoran Wilson
Physician to Winston Churchill
and World War I Royal Army
Medical Corps veteran

T his book started as an assignment handed down to me in a temporary job I had in 2008 running the Air Force news team in Washington, D.C. I was new to this position, but not to the work. Ive been in the service since 1984 and a reservist since 1988. Ive always been in the same career field, Public Affairs, working primarily as a print journalist, which I also did as a civilian for nine years.

I was unfamiliar with the name of Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger, Project Heavy Green or the Air Forces larger Combat Skyspot ground-directed bombing mission during the Vietnam War when my boss, Lt. Col. Melinda Fay Morgan, told me Etchberger might be nominated for the Medal of Honor. We needed to look into his background to have a story about him ready to go if the decoration was approved.

After trying to assign it to three younger writers on the staff only to have each suggest that I do it instead because of my appreciation for Air Force history, I took off a Friday and drove up to the chiefs hometown of Hamburg, Pennsylvania, with my wife, Varina. I had arranged to interview two of his childhood classmates, June Kline and Don Yocom, at a cafe. June has a scrapbook of things related to her late friends life, and we flipped through that together while they told me what he was like as a teenager, not as a war hero or even much as an adult.

A bit of magic happened as we sat there. One of them mentioned that Dick had an older brother, Robert. Then Don looked up from the table and said, There he is. A man in his 70s with a full head of snow-white hair was heading straight toward us from the door. He walked up, pointed to me and said, I was told to come here to talk to you. I figured this was just small town life: hed heard that an Air Force writer was in town to learn about his brother and came by to offer some insight. While thats true, Robert Etchberger hadnt lived in Hamburg for some time. He was simply visiting from his home in Florida for a few days for a high school reunion. What luck!

We later visited Dick Etchbergers grave and found a laminated letter to him left by someone who had served under him more than 40 years earlier. June and Don brought me to a memorial Hamburg had dedicated to Etch a few years before. It was clear to me that what made him special as a career GI had its start in his hometown.

After just one day on the trail of this story, I knew one piece wouldnt be enough. It would take a series to do it justice. My time in Washington soon came to a close, and I wrote three stories on Etch that fall on my own time at home in California. One day I got an email from his youngest son, Cory, then living in Bern, Switzerland, with his wife and daughter. Hed heard I was looking into his fathers career and offered to help. I was delighted, of course, and we exchanged emails through that fall and winter. In early 2009, he mentioned he had been thinking about writing a book about his father and casually asked if I would be interested in helping him. I said that I would and believed there was enough there for a book, whether or not his father ever received the Medal of Honor.

We met in Switzerland that spring, which I mention for no other reason than it sounds glamorous for me to have gone to Europe for a book project. Truthfully, I was doing some Air Force work in Germany then, and it was an easy train ride away. I spent a day reviewing Dick Etchbergers military records, deciphering them for Cory. That was the beginning. We tried writing together but both quickly realized this was a one-person joband I was him. It took a lot of trust for Cory to turn over the project to me, and I admire him for that. I believe it was the right decision to have his fathers story told by someone not so close to it.

I had one goal when I started this book: to tell Dick Etchbergers story accurately and not make him out to be superhuman. We glorify athletes, musicians, actors, etc., to the point where their achievements seem beyond our reach. They arent, not even for war heroes. There are people serving today who undertake actions worthy of the Medal of Honor if such a situation presents itself. It rarely does. Thats why it sits atop each services chart of decorations.

So, first, Id like to thank Cory for inviting me to participate in his project, which soon became my own. Id also like to thank him for his encouragement; his patience as I explored various avenues, few of which thankfully were dead ends; and for his friendship. Cory is a sweet man, and I know his Dad would be proud of who he has become. I believe that of his brothers, too.

Steve and Rich were also essential to this book, though they let Cory take the lead in being the familys contact with me. Being the eldest, Steve knew their Dad the best and shared details about Etchs personality that helped me paint a clearer picture of who he was as a father and husband. This was just as important for me to understand as what he had achieved as a GI. Brother three, Rich Etchberger is sharp, sharp, sharp. I didnt bug him nearly as much as I did Cory or even Steve, but he was always quick to reply with his ideas when I reached out to him. It was clear to me throughout that he thought his fathers story deserved a wider audience and that he expected me to take that responsibility seriously. I think I have and, more importantly, I believe Rich thinks so, too.

My wife, Varina, has been at my side since day one of this project: she accompanied me to Hamburg during that first visit in 2008. She has been supportive, encouraging and usually was the first person to read my chapters, which I wrote largely out of order. When she didnt understand something in the story, she asked. Shes very bright and incredibly well-read so when she doesnt grasp something in a story, thats a problem for the writer. At times Vee served as my unpaid research assistant, particularly at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, which we visited multiple times. This book wouldnt be what it is without her involvement.

Regarding the LBJ Library, Id be remiss not to thank archivist John Wilson and the rest of the staff there for their kindness. They treated me as a serious writer from the beginning, even though I arrived wearing a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops to just see about the possibility of doing some research there in the future. Over my protests at my attire, one of the clerks insisted I speak right then to Mr. Wilson, who happened to be free. He asked about my project and when I mentioned Etchbergers name, his eyes lit up and he said, Lima Site 85. I was stunned that he knew the name of the secret location in Laos where Etch and his teammates had worked. Mr. Wilson didnt just point me in the right direction to materials that would help me: he knew off the top of his head what specific boxes I needed to review to round out my story so readers grasped how Project Heavy Green was planned with the knowledge of the highest levels of Washington, D.C.