CAPTAIN
JOHN JAMES MCGINTY III, USMC (DECEASED) 
 

Medal of Honor Citation

John James McGinty III, who received the Medal of Honor for heroism during July 1966 in Vietnam, was born 21 January 1940, in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed grammar school in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1955, and attended high school in Louisville for a year and a half prior to enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on 19 February 1957. Discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve, he enlisted in the Regular Marine Corps on 3 March 1958.

He completed recruit training with the 3d Recruit Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina; and advanced infantry combat training with Company M, 3d Battalion, 1st Infantry Training Regiment, Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was promoted to private first class in September 1957, and was transferred to the 7th Infantry Company, USMCR, Louisville, Kentucky, to serve as a rifleman until March 1958.

Private First Class McGinty completed the Noncommissioned Officers Leadership School, Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California, in May 1958. He was then ordered to Marine Barracks, U.S. Naval Station, Kodiak, Alaska, until May 1959. While stationed in Alaska, he was promoted to corporal in September 1958.

Transferred to the 1st Marine Division in June 1959, he saw duty as a rifleman leader, and later, squad leader with Company I, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines. Upon his return to the United States, he served as Guard/Company Police Sergeant, H&S Battalion, FMF, Atlantic, at Norfolk, Virginia, until March 1962.

From there, he was ordered to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina, and assigned duty as Drill Instructor, 2d Recruit Training Battalion. He was promoted to sergeant in August 1962. From November 1964 until December 1965, Sgt McGinty saw duty as Assistant Brig Warden, Marine Barracks, U.S. Naval Base, Norfolk, Virginia.

Sergeant McGinty was ordered to the West Coast for transfer to the Far East. Joining the 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division, in the Republic of Vietnam, in April 1966, he served successively as a platoon sergeant and platoon commander, Company K, 3d Battalion, as S-2 Officer and Operation Chief, H&S Company, 3d Battalion, and as Operations Chief, with Headquarters Company, 4th Marines.

Upon his return to the United States in May 1967, he reported to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina. He served as a drill instructor until his promotion to second lieutenant on 8 August 1967. The following day, he assumed his assignment as Series Officer, 1st Recruit Battalion, at the Recruit Depot, Parris Island.

A complete list of his medals and decorations includes: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal with two bronze stars, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with two bronze stars, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Captain McGinty retired from the Marine Corps in October 1976.  He passed away at the age of 73 from bone cancer on 17 January 2014 and was laid to rest in Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Vietnam War 1965-1973 Medal of Honor