Salute to Service is a series where the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance shares the untold stories of veterans from the Mountain State. It is never too late to honor the sacrifice that Veterans have made for America, our way of life and our allies.
Phill Gene McDonald and his twin sister Phillis were born on an uncharacteristically warm September day in 1941. At 73 degrees, the temperatures were falling from a record-making high of 93 degrees just four days prior. They lived with their mother, VanDora, and father, Oscar, and eventually ten additional younger siblings in an unassuming house on Ritter Hollow, east of Avondale in McDowell County.
McDonald was known as a hard-working, responsible young man from an early age. When he wasn’t engaged in church activities, he was often helping a neighbor with tasks such as mowing grass, painting a house, or setting up a TV or radio antenna. This sense of responsibility showed intensely when, at 16 years old, McDonald dropped out of school and took a job at a local lumber yard to support his brothers and sisters following the death of their parents.
Eventually, his younger siblings went into foster care. McDonald moved to Greenville, North Carolina, at 17 years old to be closer to one of his younger sisters, who had moved there with her foster parents. He found work at a lumber yard similar to what he did in West Virginia at a cedar lumber plant.
While in Greenville, he was active in the Central Assembly of God Church. He played guitar during services and events and sang in the choir. He also taught Sunday School, leaving a significantly positive impression on his students. He planned to become a minister later in life.
One day before McDonald’s 26th birthday, he received a draft letter. He was a pacifist and had never fired a weapon. Some of those who knew him expected that because of that and his faith, he would declare consciousness objector status, but he bravely resolved to go and do his duty for his country. He said that if he could save two souls while in service, it would be worth his life.
His Sunday school students were distraught; many wept openly. They wrote a letter to President Richard Nixon, asking him to exempt McDonald from service. That letter went unanswered, and McDonald reported to the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) in Beckley, West Virginia.
Following his training at Fort Benning (renamed Fort Moore in 2023), McDonald was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, where he was known as “Preacher” due to his strong faith and dedication to prayer and reading from the Bible.
On June 7, 1968, McDonald served as his platoon’s team leader while on a mission in Vietnam. His platoon came under heavy fire from a well-concealed, company-size enemy force. He volunteered to escort two of his wounded comrades to an evacuation point. Under heavy fire, he crawled to an enemy machine gun emplacement that was threatening the evacuation and destroyed it with a grenade.
After returning from escorting the wounded soldiers, he volunteered to cover fire for his platoon as it maneuvered in an exposed position. The enemy, realizing the threat that McDonald posed, concentrated fire on his position, inflicting serious, painful wounds. After his platoon concluded its maneuver, he recovered the weapon of a wounded gunner. He provided cover fire so the gunner could evacuate his position and return to the main force.
Later, when other soldiers were pinned down by enemy automatic weapons fire, McDonald again crawled toward the enemy gun emplacement and destroyed it with a grenade. This time, he was mortally wounded in the process, however. His actions saved an untold number of his fellow soldier’s lives.
The surviving members of his platoon began an intense letter-writing campaign to draw the attention of their superiors and lawmakers to McDonald’s actions. As a result, President Nixon awarded McDonald the Medal of Honor posthumously, presenting it to McDonald’s family at the White House.
Phill McDonald exemplifies sacrifice for others and service over self in a way few can match. Because of him and people like him, the United States of America leads the world, preserving and expanding freedom and democracy around the globe. There are monuments to McDonald’s life and service in the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch and his adoptive town of Greenville, North Carolina.