On November 27th, 1944, García was acting squad leader when his unit was assigned to clear two German machine gun nests. García was wounded in action during the D-Day landings, spent four months recovering, and then re-joined his unit as it advanced into Germany. At the age of 22, he enlisted in the Army and was deployed to the European Theater of World War II. When he was young, his family moved to Texas to work on a cotton farm, and the work prevented him from progressing beyond a grade-school level of education. García was born in the Mexican state of Coahuila, which borders Texas, in 1920. García became the first Mexican national to receive the American military's highest honor. Truman awarded him the Medal of Honor on August 23, 1945. Army, Staff Sergeant Marcario García was not yet a U.S. That year, O'Malley became the first Marine awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.Though he had landed on the beaches of Normandy and been wounded in battle fighting with the U.S. Wounded three times, he gathered up his battered and wounded squad, led them to a helicopter to be flown out, and remained on the ground, and used gunfire to keep the enemy covered until all the wounded could board their helicopters. He is also credited with using a grenade to take out an enemy rocket-propelled grenade position, fighting and killing enemy soldiers, treating a number of casualties, keeping two critically wounded comrades alive through the night, and getting the wounded and dead ready to be evacuated at daylight.įellow honoree O'Malley received the Medal of Honor for his actions as a Marine corporal in 1965, when he ran cross an open rice paddy in South Vietnam and charged an enemy trench. Surrounded by superior forces and running out of supplies, McCloughan volunteered to hold a blinking strobe light in an open area to help guide in a nighttime resupply drop, exposing himself to enemy fire. The research was funded by the Irish government the Congressional Medal of Honor Society said it had no way to confirm it. Of the 3,515 Medals of Honor awarded by the United States, some 2,018 have gone to Irish-Americans, according to research cited by Patrick McDermot of Irish Veterans Post 2, created in Tampa in 2017. READ MORE: Medal of Honor recipients, convening in Tampa this October, bring message of selflessness to youth Gibbons took part in a dangerous mission to cut underwater communications cables linking the coastal Cuban city to the Spanish military command. The new exhibit also features the Medal of Honor awarded to Ireland-born Navy sailor Michael Gibbons for his actions May 11, 1898, at the Battle of Cienfuegos during the Spanish-American War. It was created in conjunction with the Congressional Medal of Honor Convention coming to Tampa Oct. Sponsored by Irish Veterans Post 2, the exhibit honors the contributions of the Irish and Irish-Americans to the nation's defense. MILITARY AFFAIRS: Read more from Tampa Bay Times military reporter Howard Altman.
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McCloughan, 72, and fellow Medal of Honor recipient Robert O'Malley, 75, were guests of honor at Thursday evening's opening of the Irish Veterans Congressional Medal of Honor exhibit at the Tampa History Center downtown. 2, people might not believe you if you told them, anyway."