page_title: James McCloughan
section_title: Civilian career
hierarchical_section_title: James McCloughan / Civilian career
caption_attribution_description: English: President Donald Trump presents Medal of Honor to James McCloughan
context_page_description: James C. McCloughan is a former United States Army soldier and a Vietnam War veteran. For his actions during the war, McCloughan was awarded 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.
context_section_description: After returning from Vietnam, McCloughan was re-accepted to his job at South Haven High School. In 1972, he received a Master of Arts degree in counseling and psychology from Western Michigan University. He taught psychology at South Haven until his 2008 retirement, which earned him the Michigan Education Association's 40 years of service award. He coached wrestling for 22 years, and football and baseball for 38 years. McCloughan was awarded the Wolverine Conference Distinguished Service Award for his coaching, and was inducted into the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1993, the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008. He also spent 25 years as a Michigan High School Athletic Association wrestling official.
  In 2009, McCloughan's former platoon leader revived his Distinguished Service Cross nomination with the assistance of United States Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.  Upon Senator Levin's retirement in 2015, additional assistance was provided by Michigan's United States Senator Debbie Stabenow.  Then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter recommended that it be upgraded to the Medal of Honor, America's highest military honor, in 2016. On 23 December 2016, then-President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, which included legislation allowing for a waiver to the five-year time limit on Medal of Honor awards. Then-Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning signed his Medal of Honor certificate on 27 December 2016, and on 13 June 2017, the White House announced that McCloughan would receive his award from President Donald Trump on 31 July, which made him the first to receive a Medal of Honor during the Trump administration. He was inducted into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes on 1 August 2017. McCloughan received his Medal of Honor from President Trump during a White House ceremony on 31 July.
caption: McCloughan receiving the Medal of Honor from President Donald Trump on 31 July 2017
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