blast upon blast, as one of his cam rads recalled, whoever called medic could immediately count on mcclun. he s a brave guy. as day turned to dusk, nearly all of those who could and really, really had to make it back, they were finally within in night defensive position, except for one soldier whose plea jim could not ignore. again, doc did not hesitate. he crawled through a rice patti thick with steel rain, that means bullets all over the place. as soldiers watched him, they were sure that was the last time they would see doc. they thought that was the end of their friend jim. but after several minutes passed, jim emerged from the smoke and fire carrying yet
vaet congress regiment does he as i understanded upon charlie company s position on three sides. he then with complete disregard for his life went into the cross fire numerous times throughout the battle to extract the wounded soldiers while also fighting the enemy. his relentless and courageous actions inspired and motivated his cam rads to fight for their survival. when supplies ran low, private first class mcclun volunteered top hold a blinking strobe light in an open area for a supply drop. he remained stead fast while bullets handed all around him and rocket propolled gren aides flew over his prone exposed body. during the morning darning darkness of may 15th he knocked out with a grenade, fought and enemy soldier alive through the night and organized the dead and
two americans into the safety of a trench while being wounded from shrapnel by a rocket propolled grenade. he had ignored a drkt order on four more occasions to extract wounded cam rads. he treated the injured, prmd the evacuation and though bleeding heavily from shrapnel wounds on his head and entire body, refused evacuation to safety in order to remain at the battle site with his fellow soldiers, who were heavily out numbered by the north vaet that mees army forces. on may 14th the platoon was again ordered to move out towards newian hill. private first class mcclun was auto wounded a second time by small arms fire and splal nel from a rocket propolled grenade while rendering aid. in the final phases of the attack two companies from second north vaet that mees army division and an element from a
member he could find of his beloved charlie company. to many people in this room specialist 5 mcclun has always been their friend jim. to others he s been coach. to those who bravely served with him in vietnam, he s still called their doc. to his parents scotty and margaret, both watching from heaven, elalways be their son. but today 32 million grateful american hearts, private mcclun carries one i am mortal title, and that title is hero. special spis 5 mcclun, we honor you, we salute you, and with god as your witness, we thank you for what you did for all of us.
secretary mnuchin, secretary mattis, secretary she will kin, senator stab now, congressman up ton and members of the armed forces, thank you for joining us as we award our nation s highest military honor to specialist 5 james c. mcclun. today we pay tribute to a veteran who went above and beyond the call of duty to protect our come rads, our country and our freedom. joining jim today is his wife sheer e, his brothers mike and tom, his sons, jamie and matt and many other members of his very large and beautiful family. we re also grat fied to be joined by eight previous medal of honor recipients.