Trump to Award First Medal of Honor Recipient as President
BY BEN MARQUIS
President Donald Trump will make history near the end of July when, for the first time ever,
the Medal of Honor will be bestowed upon a heroic combat medic who served in the Vietnam
War.
According to The Daily Caller, former Army Spc. 5 James C. McCloughan will visit the
White House to take part in the ceremony honoring him for his selfless actions during an intense
48-hour battle in May 1969 in which the medic risked all under enemy fire to rescue several
wounded members of his unit.
�He suffered wounds from shrapnel and small arms fire on three separate occasions, but
refused medical evacuation to stay with his unit, and continued to brave enemy fire to
rescue, treat, and defend wounded Americans,� White House press secretary Sean Spicer said
in announcing the award on Tuesday.
The Army Times reported that McCloughan received the call informing him of the award on May
25 after receiving an earlier call from the Army instructing him to standby near his phone.
��I have the president of the United States on the other line,'� he recalled an Army
captain stating. �I said, �Can my wife pick up another phone?'�
The 71-year-old Michigan resident � who was 23 at the time of his actions � had
been waiting quite some time to receive that call, as he had long ago been submitted to
receive the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery. That recommendation was upgraded
to the Medal of Honor after legislation in 2016 removed the five-year limit post-action
on being considered for receiving the nation�s highest military award.
�When the squad and crew members reached the company perimeter, a wounded soldier was
laying on the ground, too injured to move,� read the official award narrative, according
to the Army Times. �McCloughan ran 100 meters in an open field through the crossfire of
his company and the charging, platoon-sized North Vietnamese Army. Upon reaching the wounded
soldier, Pfc. McCloughan shouldered him and raced back to the company, saving him from
being captured or killed.�
McCloughan spoke of the Vietnam incident in a December 2016 interview with WOOD, noting
how he still carried some of the shrapnel in his body and proudly displayed his scars.
The combat medic turned high school teacher, who also coached football, baseball and wrestling
at South Haven High School, was one of only two medics assigned to an 89-man contingent
that faced off against roughly 2,000 North Vietnamese troops in the two-day battle of
Nui Yon Hill in May 1969.
After landing in the combat zone via helicopter, McCloughan quickly got to work rescuing and
patching up wounded American soldiers, but it wasn�t long before he himself was wounded
by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade.
�In the back, from head to foot in the back, and I was actually dragging two men off a
berm and into a trench line when that happened,� he recalled, noting that his lieutenant ordered
him to evacuate on the next helicopter out. �I knew that I�d gotten hit because I
could feel the pain, but I was so busy doing what I had to do, and the adrenaline was flowing,
that I really didn�t know how badly I was hit.�
Despite the order to evacuate, McCloughan refused to leave due to his fellow medic having
been killed. He told WOOD: �I knew that they were going to need me. I wasn�t going
to leave my men. Nope. I thought that would be my last day on Earth, though.�
McCloughan credited the teamwork of his fellow soldiers for keeping him alive as he attempted
to save as many wounded men as he could.
�I did have to go out and bring men in, but I was also covered by machine gunners.
They covered me well. We got some good help from air support. We had the Navy out on the
China Sea shooting their big guns in on top of the enemy,� he explained.
Of the 89 men who entered the battle, only 32 emerged still in fighting condition, as
12 had died and one was missing, all of the rest wounded to some extent.
�There�s a lot of people I couldn�t save,� he said. �I�m not a hero. I just
did my job. I�m not a hero. There�s a bunch of heroes there, a bunch of heroes.
You know, any veteran will tell you, the real heroes, they�re not here with us.�
When McCloughan is awarded the Medal of Honor by President Trump, the award will supersede
all of the other commendations he has received for his service, including a combat medical
badge, two Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars with a �V� for valor, and at least a half
dozen other awards.
It is about time the brave men (and women) who served in the Vietnam War receive the
recognition they are due, and there is little doubt that Trump will consider it an honor
to bestow the first Medal of Honor of his administration on this Vietnam veteran.
Please share this on Facebook and Twitter to let everyone know about the Vietnam vet
who is about to receive the Medal of Honor from President Trump.
What do you think of Trump awarding the Medal of Honor to this Vietnam War combat medic?
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