Dozens of Michigan National Guard troops welcomed a Vietnam veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Tuesday at a ceremony in Lansing.
James McCloughan grew up in South Haven and was drafted in 1968.
The next year, the Army medic was in Tam Ky, Vietnam, where he saved the lives of 10 soldiers over a 48-hour period of intense combat in which he himself was wounded.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor in July by President Trump.
McCloughan says he’s trying to change the image of the Vietnam veteran.
“We are the sons of the World War Two veterans,” McCloughan says. “You know, we fought our war and we came home. We didn’t say anything about what we’d experienced. But the Vietnam veteran; no one spoke up for him and he really did the same job his father did, only in kind of a controversial war.”
McCloughan says he considers himself just a caretaker of the Medal of Honor.
