Jose Calugas

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Jose Calugas, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty while serving with 1st Battalion, 88th Field Artillery Regiment, Philippine Scouts, 23d Division. The action for which the award was made took place near Culis, Bataan Province, Philippine Islands, on 16 January 1942. A battery gun position was bombed and shelled by the enemy until one gun was put out of commission and all the cannoneers were killed or wounded. Sergeant Calugas, a mess sergeant of another battery, voluntarily and without orders ran 1,000 yards across the shell-swept area to the gun position. There he organized a volunteer squad which placed the gun back in commission and fired effectively against the enemy, although the position remained under constant and heavy Japanese artillery fire.