Melissa McClendon
Known as a "true American hero," Sergeant Major Jon Cavaiani has served his country well. Now that he’s retired he continues to serve by visiting with veterans and their families across the country.
Monday, Cavaiani made a short stop in Locust Grove where a special meal was served at Country Cottage. Normally closed on Monday, owner Linda Moore opened her restaurant in honor of Cavaiani’s visit.
A Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Cavaiani has plans to visit with many veterans over the next week before attending the 13th Annual Veterans Appreciation Day at the Church of the Nazarene Sunday,
10:30 a.m.
Cavaiani traveled to Fort Sill in Lawton Tuesday, to meet with the Local Military Order of The Purple Heart, military officials, units and veterans. On Wednesday, he traveled to Wagoner to meet with Wagoner’s mayor, city council, Elks officials and local veterans.
His tour continues Thursday with a visit to the Jack C. Montgomery Veterans Affairs Hospital in Muskogee. A hosted pie and coffee get-together at Clara’s Restaurant in Hulbert was scheduled for Thursday evening and Friday a no host breakfast and lunch will begin at
10 a.m. at the Restaurant of the Cherokees in Tahlequah. Later, Cavaiani will visit with the Tahlequah Military Order of The Purple Heart, city officials, Cherokee Nation
officials and local veterans. He wraps up his trip to Oklahoma Sunday.
Cavaiani joined the US Army in 1969 and volunteered for special forces where he spent the next 17 years. After serving in Vietnam, Cavaiani was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Gerald Ford for his actions on June 4-5, 1971.
"My last assignment before being captured was as a commander of a radio relay site in northwest Vietnam," Cavaiani wrote in his own words about the event in November 1996. "On June 4, 1971, the relay site was attacked by a reinforced regiment of NVA regulars. We fought the enemy through the night. Finally, on the morning of June 5th, I told my men that I would cover their withdrawal."
Cavaiani’s citation reads that he "acted with complete disregard for his personal safety as he repeatedly exposed himself to heavy enemy fire in order to move about the camp's perimeter directing the platoon’s fire and rallying the platoon in a desperate fight for survival." It goes on to say Cavaiani stayed behind to direct helicopters into the landing zone while his troopers were being
evacuated.
He and the remaining troops continued to fight until he ordered them to escape while he provided cover fire. The citation said 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.
Cavaiani, who was also wounded numerous times in the fighting, said he was later forced to escape and evade the NVA regulars for 13 days "only to be captured outside the wires at Camp Fuller." He spent the next 23 months as a Prisoner of War. He was released by the Provisional Government of Vietnam on March 27, 1973.
Cavaiani has been awarded the Nation’s highest award for valor, The Army Medial of Honor, The Legion of Valor, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal (Valor) and Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Clusters.
