DANVERS — Robert Krisko is not one of the 58,261 names engraved on the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Peabody man was part of the Airborne Infantry, and one of the original Green Berets. But when he died in Vietnam in 1967 — at 34 years old — he was working deep undercover for the CIA.
Since he wasn't in the service at the time, his name didn't make the cut when the memorial went up in 1982.
"Every time I'd go there, it just kind of irked me," said his son, Hugh Krisko. "I saw all these names, and my dad's was not on the wall. I just thought it wasn't right."
His widow, Claudette, tried 14 years ago to get him recognized, but had no luck.
"About two months ago, I said I'm going to try this again," she said. "I've got nothing to lose."
She sent out letters, including one to Sen. John Kerry's office, which notified her about "In Memory Day."
"The In Memory program was created to pay credit to people who died as part of the Vietnam War," said Lisa Gough, communications director for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. "It honors those service members whose deaths don't fit the guidelines (to be on the monument)."
On April 19, Robert Krisko will be one of 98 names read aloud during a ceremony. A certificate bearing his name will be laid by the wall, then stored — along with any other memorabilia his family members bring — in the National Park Service permanent archive.
It's not quite the same as an etching in stone. But it's an overdue honor.
"He gave a lot for his country," Claudette said. "He gave just as much as other men, if not more. He deserves to be honored."
Krisko signed up for the Army as soon as he could. Actually, before that. He officially enlisted in 1950 when he turned 18, but actually signed up earlier under his brother's name, Henry.
But he was discovered a couple of months later, and they kicked him out and made him wait, Claudette said.
She met him when he was home on leave in Peabody. She was out to dinner with her mother, and he asked her to dance. They fell in love, and she traveled with him when he was stationed from base to base.
"He was a paratrooper," she said. "He was a master jumper, which meant he made more than 100 jumps."
He received a Soldier's Medal after one jump in Japan, where he saved a fellow soldier from drowning when the man landed in the water and became tangled in his parachute.
While serving with the Rangers in Korea from 1951 to 1952, he received two Bronze Stars for rescuing his commander and two wounded men under enemy fire, and wiping out an enemy machine-gun nest with hand grenades.
Many of the medals, and his original Green Beret, are displayed in a glass case hanging in Claudette's home in Danvers.
Krisko was back and forth between a military and civilian life. According to a Salem Evening News article published when he died, he served in Vietnam twice, first from 1950 to 1958.
"This was before it became a full-blown war," Claudette said. "He absolutely adored the people. He thought the children were wonderful."
When he was discharged in 1958, he got a degree in business administration from Boston University — where at one point he also served as an ROTC instructor. Then, he enlisted again as a sergeant in the Special Forces in 1962, spent a second, one-year tour in Vietnam, then worked as a programmer for a company in Brighton.
Then, he left that firm and went back to Vietnam, this time as "a civilian adviser for the Army" according to the newspaper article written at the time. But he was actually an undercover agent for the CIA, and died there.
Family members are fuzzy about the circumstances.
"We can't really talk about it," Hugh said.
But one thing remains certain: Robert Krisko served his country. And now he'll be recognized on a national level, 43 years after his death.
"I've finally figured out a way to do something," Claudette said. "This is going to be closure."
Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@salem news.com.
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