This is the last of my series on men who have received two Medals of Honor — this profile is of Navy LCDR John McCloy. His first Medal was awarded for action during the Boxer Rebellion in June 1900. His second Medal was for actions in Vera Cruz, Mexico, in April 1914.

Of the 3,536 military recipients of our nation’s highest award for valor (65 living today), there are, amazingly, 19 U.S. service members who have received two Medals of Honor. Among them, 14 received two Medals for separate actions of valor, and five WWI Marines received both the Army and Navy Medals of Honor for the same action because they were deployed with Army units. (Following WWI, regulations were changed so that two different service branch Medals of Honor would not be awarded for a single action.)

I have previously profiled two notable Marine double recipients for different actions, MajGen Smedley Butler and SgtMaj Daniel Daly.

I profiled three additional Marine double recipients for the same action: Pvt John Kelley, Sgt Matej Kocak, and Maj Louis Cukela. Notably, there were three other Army Medal of Honor recipients for actions in the Battle of Belleau Woods: 2LT Samuel Parker, PVT Daniel Edwards, and PVT George Dilboy.

John McCloy was a native of Brewster, New York, born in the year of our nation’s first centennial, 1876. When he was 15, he joined the Merchant Marine, and seven years later, he enlisted in the United States Navy. He served on the USS Monterey, the schooner Manila, the gunboats Gardoqui and Arayat, and then as a Coxswain on the cruiser USS Newark (C-1) in the Philippines in 1900, for the China Relief Expedition during the Boxer Rebellion.

He was part of the landing force at Peking, China, in June, and it was there, according to his first Medal of Honor citation, that he distinguished himself in heroic actions “with the relief expedition of the Allied forces in China, 13, 20, 21 and 22 June 1900.”

John reenlisted in 1901, serving again on the schooner Manila and then the gunboat Alliance, before being promoted to Boatswain in 1903 and assigned to the cruiser Atlanta.

He returned home in 1905 to marry his sweetheart, Sarah Frances, and they had a son, John, in 1909. That year, he was appointed to the warrant officer rank of Chief Boatswain and was assigned to the Naval Station at Key West, Florida.

John then returned to sea aboard USS Florida in September 1913 and served as Beach Master for the landing force during the occupation of Vera Cruz, Mexico. His second Medal of Honor citation notes: “For heroism in leading three picket launches along Vera Cruz sea front, drawing Mexican fire and enabling cruisers to save our men onshore, 22 April 1914. Though wounded, he gallantly remained at his post.” That enabled cruisers to save American lives.

In a more detailed account of his actions at Vera Cruz, his three picket boats were unloading men and supplies at a pier when his detachment came under fire from the nearby Mexican Naval Academy. To determine enemy positions, he took his boats away from the pier and directed fire at the building. His action drew retaliatory fire that allowed cruisers to locate and shell sniper positions, thus protecting the men on shore. McCloy was shot but remained at his post for 24 hours until the brigade surgeon sent him to a hospital ship.

After recovering from his wounds at the New York Naval Hospital, he returned to sea duty aboard the USS Tennessee and then completed a tour aboard the USS Maine. During World War I, McCloy accepted a temporary commission as Ensign, commanding the seagoing tug Ontario and then the tug Favorite.

After the war, he took command of a new minesweeper, USS Curlew, charged with the dangerous work of clearing mines from the North Sea. He was the recipient of the Navy Cross, the second-highest military decoration awarded for Sailors and Marines, for his service on the Curlew.

Promoted to Lieutenant, he then commanded the minesweepers Cormorant and Lark and served on the newly commissioned USS Memphis. He retired in October 1928 but was later promoted to Lieutenant Commander for his prior combat service. He was active in both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. He died at his home in Leonia, New Jersey, in 1945.

LCDR John McCloy: An ordinary man faced with extraordinary circumstances, he summoned the greatest measure of courage to place his life in imminent peril to save others. Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty — is eternal. Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of American Liberty, and for our nation’s Veterans, First Responders, and their families.

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

Follow Mark Alexander on X/Twitter.

---

Please consider a designated gift to support the National Medal of Honor Sustaining Fund’s character education initiatives through Patriot Foundation Trust’s online donor page, or by check payable to “NMoH Sustaining Fund” and mail it to:

Generosity Trust
National MOH Sustaining Fund
345 Frazier Avenue, Unit 205
Chattanooga TN 37405

Thank you for supporting The Patriot Post, our nation’s premier journal of American Liberty.

The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust — Liberty Fund, in keeping with our our Military Mission of Service to American Patriots in uniformed service and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both Honoring Their Sacrifice Foundation and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, Folds of Honor, Officer Christian Fellowship outreach, the Air University Foundation and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.