Trump gives his first Medal of Honor to Vietnam vet

July 31 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump presented his first Medal of Honor on Monday to a Vietnam War medic who risked his life several times.

Army Specialist Five James C. McCloughan, 71, received the medal in a White House ceremony Monday afternoon.

When he was 22 years old, McCloughan was drafted into the Army in 1968 after graduating from Olivet College with a bachelor of arts in sociology and a teaching certificate.

McCloughan served with Company C, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 196th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, as a private first class combat medic. He participated in 48 hours of close-combat fighting against enemy forces near Don Que, Vietnam, from May 13-15, 1969.

McCloughan, according to a White House statement, "voluntarily risked his life on nine separate occasions to rescue wounded and disoriented comrades. He suffered wounds from shrapnel and small arms fire on three separate occasions, but refused medical evacuation to stay with his unit, and continued to brave enemy fire to rescue, treat, and defend wounded Americans."

"I knew that they were going to need me. I wasn't going to leave my men. Nope. I thought that would be my last day on Earth, though," McCloughan said in a December 2016 interview with WOOD-TV in Michigan. "Dragged them or carried them, whatever way I could get them back in."

After his Vietnam service ended in 1970, McCloughan spent nearly 40 years teaching psychology, sociology and geography, and coaching football, wrestling and baseball at South Haven High School in Michigan. He earned a master of arts in counseling and psychology in 1972 from Western Michigan University.

McCloughan is a member of Michigan halls of fame in high school coaching, football and baseball, and Olivet College athletics. He is married to Cherie McCloughan and has two sons, Jamie and Matt, one daughter, Kami, and one stepdaughter, Kara.

Medal of Honor recipients must be honored within five years of the act, but in December Congress made a provision in the defense spending bill that made McCloughan eligible.

The Medal of Honor is awarded to armed forces members who distinguish themselves conspicuously by gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.

More than 3,400 medals have been awarded since its creation in 1861, according to the U.S. Army Center of Military History.