By John Poimiroo. IMG: S.Sgt. Sky Mote

PLACERVILLE, California (InEDC) Nov 10, 2022 — Five of El Dorado County’s greatest heroes will be honored at Veterans Day ceremonies at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11, when bronze plaques describing their heroic actions are dedicated at the El Dorado County Veterans Monument, 360 Fair Lane in Placerville.

The five each were recipients of a medal of valor, second only to the Medal of Honor, for their heroism in combat.

They include the late Master Sgt. William Cathcart, U.S. Army who received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism during the Korean War. On an icy February day in 1952, Cathcart rushed to aid the men of another unit and rally them after their leader had been killed. After the unit was forced to withdraw from its attack on a strongly held enemy position, Cathcart realized wounded men had been left behind and headed back up the slope to evacuate his stricken comrades, directly into the face of heavy fire. Six times he went up and six times he came back with a wounded man, being cited for utter fearlessness and completely selfless devotion to his men and his duty.

In 1967 Lt. Col. Greg Etzel was an Air Force Captain flying a 22,000-pound Sikorsky HH-3E rescue helicopter, nicknamed the Jolly Green Giant, when he earned the Air Force Cross in Vietnam for gallantry against an opposing force. He flew his big, slow chopper into one of the most heavily defended areas of North Vietnam to rescue an F-105 pilot but was forced to turn back due to oncoming darkness. Despite minimum rest, Etzel volunteered to return the next day, flying through intense fire, dodging missiles and evading attacking MIGs to locate and rescue the pilot. His heroism, superb airmanship and aggressiveness in the face of hostile forces were noted in his award citation.

Awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism in 1968 while serving as a Marine automatic rifleman in Vietnam, Cpl. Richard Buchanan’s platoon rushed to the aid of a company of Marines that had been ambushed. In the initial burst of fire several Marines in Buchanan’s platoon were killed or seriously wounded, including the platoon commander, platoon sergeant, all the squad leaders and the radio operator. Observing a well-hidden bunker, Buchanan assaulted it, directing accurate rifle fire. Then, retrieving the platoon radio and directing his comrades to follow, he led the Marines to the relative safety of a nearby pagoda where he established a hasty defense. He then single-handedly assaulted an adjacent bunker, silencing the hostile fire. Throughout a three-hour battle his command ability and calm presence of mind was credited as saving numerous Marine lives and inspiring all who saw what he did.

Andy LePeilbet was an Army lieutenant in 1969 when he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism while serving in Vietnam. Two platoons of 1st Lt. LePeilbet’s unit came under a devastating barrage of small arms, automatic weapons and grenade fire from a North Vietnamese force concealed in bunkers. As his unit sustained heavy casualties he moved forward to engage the nearest bunker with grenade fire. When a grenade landed near him, he placed himself between his radio operator and the device, taking its full force, which hurled him to the ground, crippling him. Despite his injuries, he moved his unit, directed the construction of litters to relocate the wounded and, meter by meter, maneuvered his men through 200 meters of bullet-strafed terrain. As he did so, communist forces massed to launch an all-out attack in an attempt to overrun his unit but LePeilbet tenaciously commanded the field, evacuating wounded to places of safety and deploying his men to repel the enemy.

Sky Mote, a graduate of Union Mine High School, was a staff sergeant in the Marine Corps, serving in Afghanistan in 2012 when the Marine Tactical Operations Center at which he was serving was infiltrated and came under automatic, small arms fire from a rogue Afghan uniformed policeman. Working unseen by the attacker in an adjacent room, Mote could have exited the structure to safety. Instead, to protect his fellow Marines, he grabbed his M4 rifle and boldly engaged the gunman, until falling mortally wounded. For his heroic and selfless act in helping to halt the enemy assault, which allowed all but one of the other Marines to get to cover and survive, he was awarded the Navy Cross, posthumously.

Expected to attend the ceremony will be Lt. Col. Etzel, Cpl. Buchanan and 1st Lt. LePeilbet. The families of M. Sgt. Cathcart and S. Sgt. Mote have also indicated they will be there. This is the first time all five heroes have been honored collectively by El Dorado County.

Gary Campbell, president of the El Dorado County Veterans Alliance, which oversees improvements to and ceremonies at the County Veterans Monument, said, “This honor is long overdue for these heroes of El Dorado County. Originally, only memorials funded by individual veterans, their families or friends were placed on the Honor Wall but some years ago the Veterans Alliance began gradually building an account from county allocations to pay for memorials to the deserving. I can think of none more deserving than these five.”

Veteran of the Year

Dave Sauvé is 2023 Veteran of the Year. He was chosen for his service to veterans as secretary of the Veterans Memorial Building Council, as past commander of Camerado Post 10165 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and for serving as post adjutant since 2002. He is a rifleman on the squad of veterans who present military honors at Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies and he places U.S. flags at veterans’ graves at 11 local cemeteries each Memorial Day. Sauvé said volunteering with and for local veteran helps “pay back” the relatively “easy time” he had serving at U.S. Army headquarters in Long Binh, Vietnam.

Following military service, Sauvé had a 38-year career in the U.S. Postal Service and a lifetime as a veteran who serves others.

And he’s proud to claim being the “No. 1 bus boy” at the VFW’s Second Sunday Breakfasts with Vets at the Veterans Memorial Building.

Specialist 5 David Sauvé has lived a life of paying back for that easy tour. Now El Dorado County pays him back for the selfless sacrifices he’s made over a lifetime of generosity and service.

Veteran of the Year is presented for the county of El Dorado by the El Dorado County Veterans Alliance

Veterans Service and Support Award

The Gilmore Hero Foundation is the first organization to be awarded the Veterans Service and Support Award. Founded by El Dorado County native Darrin Gilmore to help local heroes (veterans and first responders), the Gilmore Hero Foundation is operated by Gilmore’s lifelong friend, Chris Whitaker, also an El Dorado County native. The two friends share a passion for honoring service.

Since the foundation introduced itself in 2021, it has come to the rescue of veterans and first responders on numerous occasions, including transporting vets to medical appointments, underwriting the engraving of a vet’s service on a family headstone, supplying food for veterans gatherings, arranging for vets in need to get a hand up, helping a vet in college replace his worn tires so that he could satisfy his promise to visit his young son in Fresno, providing matching grants to veterans fundraisers and responding to the needs of veterans displaced by the Caldor and Mosquito fires.

“When resources aren’t available through government or other private sources, the Gilmore Hero Foundation listens and often finds a creative solution that respects the pride and sacrifices of veterans and first responders. They have become a greatly appreciated lifeline in the short time they’ve existed,” said Campbell.

A day of honor and respect

Veterans Day ceremonies at the El Dorado County Veterans Monument are widely considered to be among the best attended and most militarily correct ceremonies presented in California. Often, 1,500 or more persons attend. The ceremonies include a parade of flags led by representatives of veterans organizations and youth groups, a color guard ceremony, a flyover by a squadron of World War II warbirds with missing man formation, a military chaplain presenting an invocation and benediction, presentations of proclamations, patriotic music presented by the Ponderosa High School chorus, a three-volley salute by an all-veteran rifle team, the laying of a wreath prepared by the PHS FFA, taps and a piper.

The Veterans Alliance will announce progress on various improvements to the Veterans Monument, including installation of “Welcome Home” — the first statuary about the veteran experience to be installed in the near future and plans to renovate the Honor Circle, as conceived before the Veterans Monument was dedicated in 2006.

Admission to Veterans Day ceremonies is free. Carnations are given to the first 100 parties to arrive, which can be placed on more than 2,000 veterans memorials on the grounds.

The El Dorado County Veterans Alliance is a nonprofit charitable organization comprised of veterans that is contracted with the County of El Dorado to oversee improvements to and ceremonies at the EDC Veterans Monument. More about the Veterans Alliance is found at eldoradocountyveterans.org.