State Medal Of Honor Recipient Gets Hero’s Welcome Home

A Vietnam war hero gets a rousing welcome as he returns to a renovated house that accommodates his wheelchair and physical limits. Gary Wetzel of South Milwaukee came home Wednesday, escorted by police and fire personnel and Patriot Guard riders. The 70-year-old Wetzel received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military bravery award, for shooting at the enemy after his chopper was shot down in Vietnam, losing an arm in the process — and he suffered numerous fractures after a motorcycle accident last August near La Crosse. He tried coming home last December but could not get around his ranch style house — so his wife got another Medal of Honor recipient to contact actor and veterans’ supporter Gary Sinese, whose foundation paid to renovate the house. Former President Lyndon Johnson gave Wetzel the Medal of Honor in 1968.