Recognition Overdue-

Medal of Honor Museum Salutes Recipients, Including Merced County Soldier

The recently opened Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas. (R) Sergeant Jon Cavaiani. Photos from MOHM.org 

The National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas, recently opened on Medal of Honor Day, March 25.

The privately funded Museum honors the three-thousand, eight-hundred, fifty-six recipients of the nation’s highest military honor. All are men except for a woman honoree from the Civil War era.

Among the recipients is Brigadier General Frederick Castle, the man for whom Castle Air Force Base in Atwater was named. On Christmas Eve in 1944, General Castle remained with his attacked Army Air Force B-17, ordering his crew to parachute out, and he stayed with the aircraft as it was hit by enemy fire. He went down with his plane but spared his crew.

Also among those receiving the nation’s highest military honor is Merced County soldier Jon Cavaiani of Ballico.

Staff Sergeant Jon Cavaiani in an interview from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society website (CMOHS.org)

I first wrote about the Army Staff Sergeant in a column from 2016 (Merced County’s Medal of Honor Recipient- Jon R. Cavaiani — Merced County Events).

Part of his story is worth sharing again, picking up from that fateful battle during the Vietnam War in June 1971:

 “Intense enemy fire forced him to stay at the camp overnight to direct the other remaining troops as they held off the enemy. There were more acts of bravery as a heavy barrage attacked the next day.  

At one point, Jon got a machine gun, stood up again facing enemy fire, and fired away as his remaining troops escaped.”

Local newspaper accounts of Sergeant Jon Cavaiani’s return from a POW camp. Photo: CMOHS.org

The worst was not over for the Sergeant. He would eventually be captured by the enemy and held as a prisoner of war for two years.

Jon Cavaiani is recognized along with the other men to receive the Medal of Honor.  

According to the museum website, the museum features interactive exhibits, military equipment, and a moving display that ensures each recipient of the Medal of Honor is appropriately recognized.

That website also brings part of the Museum experience to those who may never see it in person. There’s a searchable database with information about each honoree.

Here is part of the narrative about Sargent Cavaiani picking up on his bravery on the morning of June 4, 1971:

“…the entire camp came under an intense barrage of enemy small arms, automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenade and mortar fire from a superior size enemy force. Sergeant Cavaiani acted with complete disregard for his safety as he repeatedly exposed himself to heavy enemy fire to move about the camp’s perimeter directing the platoon’s fire and rallying the platoon in a desperate fight for survival.”

Sergeant Cavaiani received his Congressional Medal of Honor from President Gerald Ford following nearly two years of captivity in Vietnam. Photo: CMOHS.org

The description of Jon’s heroics in the Museum’s database (MOHM.org) contains much more information.  

However, the most compelling comments come from the sergeant’s words in a video that is part of the database on a different website.

On the Congressional Medal of Honor website (CMOHS.org), Sergeant Cavaiani talks about how he was ordered away from the battlefield but stayed there any way to help his fellow soldiers.

“I had already been ordered to get off the hill…I thought, ‘You’ve got to be joking with me.” I was on an Army reconnaissance team before. You know, the first man on the ground, last to leave.”

Of particular note is how the Sergeant put his life on the line to recover a machine gun amidst the confusion on the battlefield and fire it toward the enemy so that his fellow soldiers could escape to safety.

From the inscription on the Museum database:

  With one last courageous exertion, Staff Sergeant Cavaiani recovered a machine gun, stood up, completely exposing himself to the heavy enemy fire directed at him, and began firing the machine gun in a sweeping motion along the two ranks of advancing enemy soldiers.

Through Cavaiani’s valiant efforts, with complete disregard for his safety, most of the remaining platoon members could escape. While inflicting severe losses on the advancing enemy force, Cavaiani was wounded numerous times.

Jon Cavaiani is among the soldiers honored at the Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas.  

His journey to the Medal of Honor is better known in Merced County. A portion of the Livingston Historical Society Museum helps tell his story.

Now, thanks to the National Medal of Honor Museum and its online database, the rest of the world can learn of his service to his fellow soldiers.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He is indebted to the Medal of Honor Museum website MOHS.org and the Congressional Medal of Honor Museum website CMOHS.org for photographs and the video interview of Sergeant Jon Cavaiani.

Steve’s latest book, Jack & Johnny: Benny, Carson and a Friendship Made for Television, and all his releases are available locally at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop as well, or it can be ordered at Jack & Johnny (lulu.com)

His California books are available at Bookish Modesto, 811 W Roseburg Avenue, in the Roseburg Square Shopping Center.