Retired Army Lt. Col. Robert Etherson ’65
Retired Army Lt. Col. Robert Etherson, North Lindenhurst, NY, died August 8, 2024,
Bob attended Saint Michael’s on a basketball scholarship and was a member of Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities in 1965.
He was a member of North Lindenhurst Community his entire life. After college, he volunteered for the Army. He first attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Know, KY (Army Division) and then Fort Lee, VA, where he later became the commander of the parachute rigging school company. He volunteered for two tours of duty in Vietnam. He received the Purple Heart, two Bronze Stars from the Army Commendation – a medal for heroism for facing an enemy gun position with a dismounted M-60 machine gun. He also received both the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Army Commendation twice on separate occasions. He left the service after six years but later rejoined the Army Reserve program and finally spent 33 years in the military (and 6 years as an enlisted man).
He earned two master’s degrees, one in the professional study of Health Care Administration. He used this degree to eventually become the manager of the Medicare Anti-Fraud Division and later became a Certified Fraud Examiner.
Bob’s work experience included supervisor for The Travelers Insurance Company on Long Island. He successfully uncovered a nationwide fraud scheme which was highlighted by the F.B.I. in their annual meeting in California. He was presented with the Fraud Examiner of the Year Award by New England region of 1998. Bob retired from the Medicare Program in 1999.
After several years at home, he volunteered to become an EMT at the North Lindenhurst Volunteer Fire Department. After three years as an EMT, he became a Critical Care EMT. He was credited with savings several lives for which he was duly recognized. He was subsequently elected captain of the rescue company after first serving as a lieutenant.
In 2007, Bob and Dermot McGrath founded the Viet Duc Hospital Humanitarian Program (a hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam) – the result of Bob’s desire to return to Vietnam to find and send home the body of a North Vietnamese officer, whom he buried face down in an unmarked grave at Dak To, Vietnam in early 1968. The body was found and is in the process of being returned. This unfortunate incident happened in the heat of battle, but Lieutenant Etherson never forgot him.
He firmly believed soldiers should not be disrespected regardless of what side they were on. As Bob put it: “It is important to note that when the smoke of battle clears and the guns fall quiet, at some point, you have to extend your hand to your former enemy…for only doing so, the small act of compassion, will you know the war is truly over.”
He maintained lifelong close friendships with his Saint Michael’s classmates and was a President’s Medallion supporter of the College.
Bob leaves behind his friend of 40 years, Eve Hough, and extended family, which to him included the Fire Department that became his support in his final years.