Greg Jordan: Missing Medal of Honor portrait found in McDowell County
Feb. 13—A Medal of Honor recipient's portrait and citation are now out of a courthouse closet and back up on a courthouse wall. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph recently ran a letter to the editor from Ed Rotenberry of Princeton, who was concerned that a portrait and citation honoring McDowell County native Phil McDonald, a McDowell County native and recipient of the Medal of Honor, was missing from its place at the McDowell County Courthouse. Rotenberry had researched McDonald's history and worked to get his portrait in a place of honor. On June 7, 1968, McDonald was serving as a platoon leader in Vietnam when his unit came under heavy fire and volunteered to evacuate two of his fellow soldiers who were wounded. Crawling through intense enemy gunfire, he destroyed an enemy automatic weapon emplacement threatening the evacuation, then returned to his platoon and volunteered to keep providing covering fire while the other soldiers moved from their exposed position. Enemy gunners then concentrated their fire on McDonald. Despite being hit and seriously wounded, McDonald recovered a wounded machine gunner's weapon and kept firing so the wounded soldier could be evacuated. When other soldiers were pinned down by enemy machine gun fire, McDonald crawled to the enemy position and destroyed it with hand grenades. He was mortally wounded during this action. McDonald's sacrifice was recognized in April 1970 during a White House ceremony when President Richard Nixon posthumously presented him with the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor. The award is sometimes called the Congressional Medal of Honor because it was created by Congress, but it is a military award, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Rotenberry said that he requested permission from the McDowell County Commission to hang McDonald's portrait and citation at the McDowell County Courthouse. Both were placed at the courthouse on June 19, 2009. In an article, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph then noted that McDonald is McDowell County's only Medal of Honor recipient. Rotenberry said that he and his wife paid for the portrait and citation. Not long after his letter to the editor was published in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Rotenberry called the newspaper and said that McDonald's portrait and citation had been found in a courthouse closet and was once again hanging on a courthouse wall. McDonald is one of two Medal of Honor recipients now memorialized in the West Virginia Military Hall of Fame. The second one is the late Hershel "Woody" Williams of the Marine Corps. Williams, a native of Marion County, was presented with the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman on Oct. 5, 1945, for his actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima, according to the West Virginia Hall of Fame. Williams arrived on the beach of Iwo Jima with 1st Battalion, 21st Marines on Feb. 21, 1945. Two days later, tanks opening up a lane for the infantry were halted by several enemy pillboxes. Williams, armed with a flamethrower and demolition charges and joined by four other Marines, spent four hours destroying the enemy positions so American forces could keep advancing. One Medal of Honor recipient who called Mercer County home isn't currently in the West Virginia Military Hall of Fame, but an interstate bridge now bears his name. His Medal of Honor is on display at the Those Who Served War Museum in Princeton. The display features a painting of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. James Ira "Junior" Spurrier being congratulated by Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower. Spurrier was serving in France during World War II when, despite being by himself, he attacked German positions around the French town of Achain. Using captured German weapons and ammunition when Americans ones were not on hand, he drove enemy troops into a barn and then set it on fire. When the battle was over, Spurrier had inflicted 36 causalities on the enemy and captured 32 prisoners. This achievement earned him the nickname "Task Force Spurrier." Maybe a portrait hall of fame could be created someday for paintings of all West Virginia's Medal of Honor recipients as well as other outstanding West Virginians such as General Chuck Yeager. It could be a starting point for educating future Mountaineers about the people who came before them and brought honor to the state.
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
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