Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Medic 1st to get Medal of Honor from Trump
Vietnam vet saved 10 soldiers during fierce 1969 battle
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — Members of Army medic James McCloughan’s unit in Vietnam called him “Doc.”
Now, those soldiers, several of whom McCloughan saved during the ferocious, dayslong Battle of Nui Yon Hill in 1969, will have a new name for him: Medal of Honor recipient.
Army spokeswoman Valerie Mongello said Tuesday that the 71-year-old resident of South Haven, Mich., will become the first person President Donald Trump will award the nation’s highest military honor.
“I feel honored to be able to accept this for the 89 men that fought that battle,” McCloughan said, referencing the number of U.S. 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 after earning a degree in sociology from Olivet College, 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.
McCloughan described the shrapnel as “a real bad sting,” during an interview at his home.
In 2016, then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter recommended McCloughan for the Medal of Honor. The medal needs to be awarded within five years of the heroic actions. But Congress can waive the time limit, which is what happened in McCloughan’s case.