James C. McCloughan (born April 30, 1946) is a former United States Army soldier and a Vietnam War veteran. For his actions during the war, McCloughan was approved for the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama and Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning in December 2016. McCloughan was presented the Medal of Honor on 31 July 2017 by President Donald Trump, the first such award of Trump's administration.
After being drafted into the United States Army in 1968, McCloughan became a combat medic, and in May 1969 distinguished himself in fighting near Tam Kỳ at Nui Yon Hill, in which he treated the wounded while fighting North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces. McCloughan was wounded multiple times during the battle, but refused evacuation. After his discharge from the army, he returned to his hometown of South Haven, Michigan, where he became a high school teacher and athletics coach.
Early life
McCloughan was born in South Haven, Michigan, on 30 April 1946. He spent his childhood in nearby Bangor, Michigan, after his parents moved there to manage a family farm. At Bangor High School, he became a four-sport varsity athlete and continued his education at Olivet College, where he wrestled and played football and baseball. McCloughan graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and a teaching certificate, and accepted a teaching and football coaching position at South Haven High School. He was drafted into the United States Army three months later on 29 August 1968.
Vietnam War
In September 1968, McCloughan began basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. As a result of training in athletics and coaching, he had a basic understanding of sports medicine, and thus was sent to Fort Sam Houston after two months of basic training for advanced medical specialist training. He received deployment orders for Vietnam on the last day of training, and was assigned to Company C of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry as a combat medic with the rank of private first class, beginning his yearlong combat tour in March 1969. The battalion was part of the Americal Division's 196th Light Infantry Brigade.
Medal of Honor action
On 13 May, McCloughan's company air assaulted into a landing zone near Tam Kỳ and Nui Yon Hill, coming under small arms and machine gun fire from defending North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces. Two helicopters were downed over the landing zone, one of which crashed around from Company C's positions. A rescue helicopter was prevented from landing due to fierce enemy fire, and a squad was sent out to rescue the pilot and crew. Upon reaching the crash site, they saw a badly wounded soldier sprawled on the ground, and McCloughan ran to him through an open field, dodging the fire of his unit and a charging NVA platoon. After reaching the wounded soldier, McCloughan carried him over his shoulder and ran back to Company C, thus saving the man from capture or death.
Later that afternoon, the company's 2nd Platoon was ambushed by a large NVA unit, suffering heavy casualties, while conducting reconnaissance near Nui Yon Hill. As airstrikes were attacking nearby NVA, McCloughan entered a trench and saw two unarmed American soldiers huddling near a bush. He handed his gun to another soldier, jumped over the trench's berm, and ran close to the ground towards the two soldiers, whom he pulled back into the trench despite being hit with shrapnel from the explosion of a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). Ignoring an order to remain in the trench, he rescued wounded soldiers from the kill zone four more times during a NVA assault. Bleeding heavily, McCloughan treated the wounded and prepared them for evacuation, refusing evacuation even though the NVA heavily outnumbered the American troops.
On 14 May, the 1st Platoon was ambushed while advancing on Nui Yon Hill, and its medic Daniel J. Shea, was killed in the fighting, which left McCloughan as the company's sole medic. While treating two soldiers in an open rice paddy, he was wounded a second time by small arms fire and RPG shrapnel. In the closing phases of the attack, two NVA companies and 700 VC attacked the company's position from three sides. With complete disregard for his own safety, he braved enemy fire numerous times to bring out wounded soldiers, simultaneously fighting the enemy. After supplies ran low, McCloughan volunteered to hold a blinking light in an exposed position to mark a location for a night resupply drop, remaining steadfast in the enemy fire.