Army Col. Richard Cato, 69; Vietnam War Hero, Executive

Richard Webb Cato, 69, a retired Army colonel who had a distinguished combat record in Vietnam and later became an executive for defense contractors, died April 5 of brain cancer at Capital Hospice in Arlington County. He lived in Fairfax County.

Col. Cato was born in Manila, where his father was stationed as an officer with the U.S. Army. He was a 1960 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and spent 26 years in the service, including two tours of combat duty in Vietnam as an Army Ranger.

In 1966, when he was a company commander with the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam, he took part in Operation Attleboro, one of the largest combat ventures at that point in the war. Then-Capt. Cato was awarded the Silver Star for "unquestionable valor in close combat against a numerically superior hostile force."

He was wounded in the head and leg during the battle, in which more than 1,000 Viet Cong fighters were killed.

"Ignoring his painful injury," Col. Cato's Silver Star citation notes, "he continued to direct his unit until ordered to seek medical aid. Upon reaching the evacuation site, he braved sniper fire to set up a defensive perimeter and supervise the aerial extraction of the wounded. Captain Cato refused medical treatment until he had personally insured that all other injured were attended."

He returned from Vietnam in a body cast and spent a year recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He carried shrapnel in his head for the rest of his life.

During the battle, Col. Cato lost a pearl-handled .45-caliber pistol that he had received in 1961 for being named the First Lieutenant of the Year, or the outstanding young officer, in the 82nd Airborne Division. About 30 years after Operation Attleboro, former senator Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), a Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam, saw Col. Cato's .45 at a museum in Hanoi. Kerrey asked whether he could bring the pistol and other items in the museum back to the United States to present to soldiers' families.

At first, his request was refused, but as he was about to leave Hanoi, he was given Col. Cato's pistol and ultimately returned it to its original owner. Col. Cato restored the gun and kept it at his home.

After recovering from his war wounds, Col. Cato commanded the 4th Airborne Battalion at the Airborne Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., graduated from the National War College and worked in Army recruiting.

In 1969, he received dual master's degrees from Stanford University in operations research and engineering and economic systems. He did additional graduate work in telecommunications at Harvard University.

In the 1970s, he was a military assistant in Iran, where he served as inspector for the International Red Cross, examining the treatment of 250,000 Kurdish refugees in Iran. He also coordinated U.S.-Iranian drug-interdiction efforts and developed measures to suppress international smuggling.

Later, Col. Cato held several top positions at the Pentagon, where he developed personnel procedures and led efforts to automate the Army's recruitment and training programs.