Vietnam Veteran to Receive Medal of Honor

President Donald Trump will present his first Medal of Honor in July. The award will acknowledge the valor of a Vietnam vet who repeatedly risked his life to save his fellow soldiers. The Medal of Honor is being presented nearly 50 years after Spec Five James C. McCloughan’s heroic actions. Army spokeswoman Valerie L. Mongello said Tuesday that the 71-year-old from South Haven, Michigan, will become the first person to be awarded the nation’s highest military honor by President Donald Trump. The President called McCloughan on May 25th to let him know about the decision.“I feel honored to be able to accept this for the 89 men that fought that battle,” McCloughan said, referencing the number of American combatants, dozens of whom were killed, wounded or went missing during the 48 hours of fighting against hundreds of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong.Then a 23-year-old private first class who was drafted a year earlier, McCloughan repeatedly entered the “kill zone” to rescue wounded comrades, despite being pelted with shrapnel from a rocket propelled grenade. McCloughan “voluntarily risked his life on nine separate occasions to rescue wounded and disoriented comrades,” the White House said in an emailed statement Tuesday.“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.”

McCloughan’s platoon leader, Lt. Randall J. Clark, recalled his role in the battle in a letter: “McCloughan had not slept, eaten or drank since the morning of May 13. After loading the medevac choppers, he collapsed.” Forty-seven years later, Defense Secretary Ash Carter recommended last October that McCloughan receive not the Distinguished Service Cross, but the Medal of Honor, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. military. Typically, Medal of Honor recipients must be honored within five years of the act that justifies the award. In December, Congress included a provision in a defense spending bill that made McCloughan eligible for the medal.

McCloughan said Tuesday that he is still close with members of his platoon, who referred to him as “Doc.” He has reconnected with 20 of them in recent years.

“I think they are more excited than I am about this,” he said. “Whether it be after the war or before the war, Jim McCloughan is Jim McCloughan because of the many, many many people who influenced me through my life, and I’m pleased that I can make them feel so good about being a part of this award.”McCloughan, who was drafted after graduating from Olivet College, returned home after Vietnam and taught psychology and sociology for 38 years at South Haven High School, where he also coached football, wrestling and baseball. He is married to Chérie McCloughan and has two sons, Jamie and Matt, a daughter, Kami, and a stepdaughter, Kara.