Douglas County sheriff honors Vietnam veteran as honorary deputy

Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly swore Leo Hrdlicka in as an honorary sheriff’s deputy, turning a Memorial Day season ceremony into a public salute to military service, family sacrifice and the county’s outreach to veterans.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said the honor recognized Hrdlicka, a Vietnam veteran and Douglas County resident, for a 60-year mission to find his brother, U.S. Air Force pilot David Hrdlicka. Weekly also presented him with a POW/MIA flag that had flown over the Douglas County Justice Center headquarters, tying the recognition directly to the sheriff’s office’s public memorial role.

The gesture carried a deeply personal edge for Weekly. He said his father served in Vietnam, was exposed to Agent Orange and died of cancer at age 51, a family history that shaped the way he framed Hrdlicka’s persistence and the broader toll carried by military families.

U.S. military records identify David Hrdlicka as Capt. David Louis Hrdlicka of the U.S. Air Force and the 563rd Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was shot down on May 18, 1965, during a bombing mission over Laos. According to those records, he ejected from his F-105D, was taken prisoner and his fate remains unknown; his remains were never recovered.

The sheriff’s office used the ceremony ahead of Memorial Day to connect that unresolved loss to the county’s own public identity. By swearing in Leo Hrdlicka, the agency placed a Vietnam veteran and a decades-long family search at the center of its tribute, not as pageantry but as a reminder that recognition of service often extends beyond the battlefield and into the long work of remembrance.

For Douglas County, the event underscored how the sheriff’s office links military honor with civic trust. Weekly’s choice to elevate Leo Hrdlicka and to present a flag from the Justice Center reflected an institution signaling gratitude to veterans while acknowledging the lingering impact of war on local families.