Medal of Honor Recipient Sergeant Major Jonathan Cavaiani: Commemorating Veterans Day, Recognizing Immigrant Patriots

Sergeant Major Jonathan Cavaiani

To commemorate Veterans Day, we are featuring foreign-born patriots and Medal of Honor recipients widely celebrated for their remarkable gallantry. Below, we recognize Sergeant Major Jonathan Robert Cavaiani, who stayed behind enemy lines to save the lives of fellow platoon members before enduring two years of captivity during the Vietnam War.

Jonathan Robert Cavaiani was born Jon Lemmons in Royston, England, in August 1943. His father was an American soldier. When he was just four, he and his younger brother, Carl, were sent to live with their uncle in California. After their parents’ divorce, the brothers lived with their mother and stepfather in Ballico, California. They eventually adopted his surname, Cavaiani. As a young boy, Jon frolicked around the family’s farm before finding work for a fertilizer company.

Following a brief marriage and divorce, Cavaiani became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1969. Shortly after, inspired by two half-brothers already serving in Vietnam, Jon joined the army after initially being rejected due to severe allergies. At 26, he began boot camp, volunteered to join the Special Forces, and trained as a medic.

A year later, he was deployed to Vietnam with Task Force 1, an elite reconnaissance unit. Initially assigned as an agriculture advisor, he switched to reconnaissance and soon volunteered to be platoon leader. The unit was assigned to provide security within enemy territory. In 1971, one month into his assignment on Hill 953 in Quang Tri Province, or “Hickory Hill,” he woke to the entire camp under enemy fire. Selflessly, he put himself in harm’s way while directing the platoon’s return fire. Following the group’s emergency evacuation via military helicopter, Cavaiani stayed behind to protect fellow soldiers and destroy sensitive American radio equipment, preventing it from reaching enemy hands.

The next morning, when inclement weather prevented subsequent evacuation flights, multiple waves of North Vietnam and Viet Cong soldiers attacked Cavaiani and the remaining platoon. After ordering his team to evacuate, Cavaiani stayed behind to provide cover before he was wounded by a grenade and captured.

For the next two years, Cavaiani remained in captivity, enduring interrogation efforts.  In 1973, two years after his capture, a still-wounded Cavaiani was transferred to the Hanoi Hilton prisoner of war camp, where he was eventually freed as part of a prisoner exchange. In 1974, President Gerald Ford presented Cavaiani with the Medal of Honor for his selfless actions at Hickory Hill.

Despite his significant wounds, Cavaiani continued to serve in the Special Forces, including on the Allied Staff in West Berlin, until 1980. In 1989, Cavaiani was promoted to the rank of sergeant major before retiring from active duty a year later, in 1990.

Jonathan Robert Cavaiani passed in July 2014. He is buried near fellow platoon members in Arlington National Cemetery.