Salute to hero 48 years later
Don awards Medal of Honor to ’Nam vet
President Trump presented his first Medal of Honor on Monday to a 71-year-old Vietnam War veteran who risked his life nine times to save US soldiers as an Army medic.
“Today we pay tribute to a veteran who went above and beyond the call of duty to protect our comrades, our country and our freedom,” Trump said at a White House ceremony for James McCloughan.
In attendance were 10 of McCloughan’s former fellow soldiers, five of whom he rescued in a bloody 48-hour stretch during the Battle of Nui Yon Hill in March 1969.
With the uniformed Michigan native at his side, Trump recounted the former combat medic’s heroism in the face of withering fire as he entered the “kill zone.”
“He blazed through 10 meters of enemy fire to carry the wounded soldiers to safety,” Trump said.
In a separate incident, McCloughan rushed to the aid of members of his ambushed unit but was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, which tore open a head-to-foot wound.
Despite the grave injury, “Doc” — as he was known in his unit — carried a wounded man on top of his own ravaged body, the president said.
“Doc did not hesitate. He crawled through a rice paddy thick with steel rain — that means bullets,” Trump said. “They thought that was the end of their friend, Jim. But after several minutes, Jim emerged from the smoke and fire carrying yet another soldier.”
He refused a captain’s order to leave the battlefield to seek treatment for his own wounds, then held a blinking light in an open area at night for a resupply air drop.
“He said, ‘You’re going to need me here,’ ” Trump explained. “As Jim says, ‘I would have rather died on the battlefield than known that men died because they did not have a medic.’ ”
He also took out a North Vietnamese position with a grenade.
McCloughan had been a foursport varsity athlete at Bangor HS in Michigan before he earned a degree in sociology at Olivet College, also in Michi- gan, and landed a teaching job.
He was drafted three months later and served with Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade.
Reflecting on his experience 48 years later, McCloughan said he was nervous when he learned he was going to Vietnam.
Eventually, he said, “I got into the right frame of mind that I will serve my country. I didn’t volunteer to do it, but they’ve asked me, so that’s what I’ll do.”