One of the most humbling experiences as cochairman of the National Medal of Honor Sustaining Fund with my friend, GEN B.B. Bell, is fellowship with some of our nation’s most distinguished American Patriots, our nation’s military heroes. Too often, the word “heroes” is misapplied by mainstream media platforms to anyone in any uniform. It is a word that should only be applied to those who have earned it.
This week, we hosted Medal of Honor recipient James “Doc” McCloughan at the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center.
Jim was raised on a family farm in rural Bangor, Michigan. In high school he excelled at sports and was a musician. He graduated a four-sport varsity athlete and went on to Olivet College where he wrestled, and played football and baseball. He graduated in 1968 with a BA in Sociology intending to teach, and accepted a teaching and coaching position with South Haven Public Schools. But that plan was interrupted three months later when he was drafted into the Army.
In September 1968, at age 22, Jim reported to basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Given his sports background and knowledge of treating injuries, he was then assigned to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for advanced training as a medical specialist. On his final day of training in March 1969, he received deployment orders to Vietnam for a 12-month tour as a combat medic. He was assigned to Company C, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade “Chargers,” Americal Division (yes, “Ameri-Cal” being a contraction of “American New Caledonian Division”).
But in Jim’s case, it may be shorthand for “America Miracle.”
It was 13-15 May, two months after arriving in the country, that Jim McCloughan would distinguished himself during 48 hours of close combat. On the morning of the 13th, his Charlie Company was under deadly assault by North Vietnamese Army regulars near Tam Ky and Nui Yon Hill. During the firefight, two Army helicopters were shot down, one crashing near Charlie Company’s position. Being too high risk for a helicopter rescue of the pilot and crew, a squad was ordered to retrieve the men and bring them back to Charlie Company’s defense perimeter.
One of the injured soldiers was 100 meters from the helicopter, and McCloughan ran through a field of open fire to get to him. As he recounts, “I weaved and sprinted through the fire and slid in next to him like I was sliding into second base.” Once reaching his position, McCloughan carried him over his shoulder back to the relative safety of the defense perimeter.
Later that day, as 2nd Platoon was scouting the area for remaining enemy pockets, they were ambushed by a much larger NVA force and suffered heavy casualties. McCloughan worked his way through enemy entrenchments to reach the injured as air strikes were called in against the NVA positions. Seeing two unarmed Army soldiers huddle under enemy fire, McCloughan handed his weapon to a fellow soldier so as not to impede his ability to get over the trench berm and ran low to the exposed soldiers’ position. As he did so, he was hit with shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade. Despite his own wounds, he pulled the soldiers back to the trench, where he treated their wounds.
Ignoring orders to remain in the trench, on four more occasions, McCloughan braved walls of enemy fire to retrieve wounded soldiers and drag them to the trench line. Though losing a lot of blood from his own wounds, he refused to evacuate and remained on the frontline.
The next day, as 1st Platoon was advancing toward the enemy line in order to forge a path out of the area, they were ambushed, and their medic was killed, leaving McCloughan as the Company’s only medic. While rendering aid to two soldiers in an open rice paddy, Jim was wounded again by AK-47 fire and shrapnel from a second RPG.
As darkness fell and his Company’s supplies were running low, McCloughan volunteered to hold a marker light in an area where he could be seen by friend and foe alike in order to guide in a night resupply drop. He did so under constant incoming AK-47 fire and RPG rounds.
Before dawn on the morning of 15 May, Jim worked his way to the enemy line and, using grenades, neutralized the RPG position that had inflicted many wounds on the Americans. He continued treating injured soldiers, including two who were critically wounded, and he organized the evacuation of the wounded and dead.
Over the course of the two-day attack, Jim “Doc” McCloughan was credited with moving into the “kill zone” 10 times to rescue the injured and save at least 10 Americans and one Vietnamese interpreter.
For his actions between 13 and 15 May 1969, McCloughan was recommended for the Army’s second-highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross. The recommendation was downgraded to a Bronze Star (Valor), most likely because McCloughan disobeyed orders several times when rescuing his fellow soldiers. (Such disregard for orders is common among truly heroic men.) At the end of his tour, he received the Combat Medic Badge, two Purple Hearts, and two Bronze Stars (Valor), among other awards.
Returning home in 1970, Jim resumed his contract with South Haven Public Schools and, in 1972, earned an MA in counseling from Western Michigan University. He remained with South Haven High School for 38 years, teaching psychology and sociology while coaching football, wrestling, and baseball.
Additionally, he refereed 18 Michigan Wrestling State Finals as an MHSAA wrestling official and was inducted into Michigan’s High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame, the Football Coaches Hall of Fame, and the Wrestling Hall of Fame. He is also the recipient of the Wolverine Conference Distinguished Service Award, the Olivet College Distinguished Alumni Award, the Olivet College Leadership Award, and the National DAR Distinguished Citizen Medal.
But his distinguished recognition does not end there. In 2009, McCloughan’s former platoon leader revived his Distinguished Service Cross nomination, but it was only after the revocation of a five-year time limit on Medal of Honor award revisions in 2016 that Jim’s heroic service could be reconsidered for a Medal of Honor.
As I have noted before regarding long delays between service rendered and recognition, Medal of Honor nominees are, first and foremost, humble warriors. Inherent in their willingness to “lay down one’s life for his friends” is the ultimate expression of humility, valuing the lives of others above one’s own. Thus, it is not in their nature to advocate for their personal recognition. The advocacy to upgrade a warrior’s prior decoration to a Medal of Honor falls to others — mostly those with whom the recipient served.
Over the last century, many Medals of Honor have been approved and awarded for actions that occurred decades earlier, most often posthumously. The verification process for valorous actions that may merit a Medal of Honor is very strenuous, making that process more difficult with the passage of time.
But on review of Jim “Doc” McCloughan’s service and sacrifice, he was awarded a Medal of Honor on 31 July 2017.
At his White House Medal of Honor Ceremony, President Donald Trump declared: “For over two centuries, our brave men and women in uniform have overcome tyranny, fascism, communism, and every threat to our freedom — every single threat they’ve overcome. And we’ve overcome these threats because of titans like Jim, whose spirit could never be conquered.”
His Medal of Honor citation concludes: “Private First Class McCloughan’s personal heroism, professional competence, and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Americal Division, and the United States Army.”
Following his ceremony, Jim was recognized with the 2017 State of Michigan Veteran of the Year Award, the 2018 Department of Michigan Legionnaire of the Year Award, the Peaceful Warrior’s Foundation Military and Career Service Award, and inducted into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes.
In retirement, Jim and his wife, Chérie, have both continued to serve their community through nonprofit organizations and charitable projects. He has also served as Vice President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and chairs the Society’s Character Development Program for schools nationwide.
Most recently, he coordinated with the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center to promote an educational curriculum focused on the six character-trait pillars of the Medal of Honor common to all recipients: Courage, Sacrifice, Patriotism, Citizenship, Integrity, and Commitment.
The McCloughans have four adult children and seven grandchildren, and he would not want me to leave out two standard poodles.
(Watch Jim tell his story about becoming a medic and his account of his first day in Vietnam.
PFC James “Doc”McCloughan: Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty and in disregard for the peril to your own life — is eternal.
Footnote: In October 2024, in an unusual collaboration, Jim McCloughan joined other Medal of Honor recipients in a public endorsement of Trump for President.
“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.
(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
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Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of American Liberty, honoring their oath “to support and defend” our Constitution. Pray for our Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please consider a designated gift to support the National Medal of Honor Sustaining Fund through Patriot Foundation Trust, or make a check payable to “NMoH Sustaining Fund” and mail it to:
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