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Mother said Josh Powell threatened her
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- An Air Force sergeant from Pennsylvania killed in combat in Laos during the Vietnam War will receive the Medal of Honor, the White House said Friday.
President Barack Obama will bestow the honor Sept. 21 for the "conspicuous gallantry" Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. Etchberger of Hamburg, Pa., exhibited before he was killed in action March 11, 1968, six days after his 35th birthday, the White House said in a release. Etchberger's sons, Cory and Richard Etchberger and Steve Wilson, will attend the White House ceremony.
"He displayed immeasurable courage and uncommon valor -- deliberately exposing himself to enemy fire in order to place his three surviving wounded comrades in the rescue slings permitting them to be airlifted to safety," the release said. "As he was finally being rescued, he was fatally wounded by enemy ground fire."
Etchberger had joined the Air Force in 1951.
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