ICYMI: Hamilton’s Mcdonough Honored for Service in War and Community
H-W News
By Tim Vande Brake | H-W News Staff
Hamilton resident and Vietnam War veteran Leland McDonough was honored for serving both his country and community at the Massachusetts State House earlier this month.
McDonough was one of 136 honorees who received an official Governor’s Citation at a Military Appreciation Day ceremony on June 4, according to a press release from the office of state Sen. Bruce Tarr.
McDonough piloted a Sikorsky H-34 helicopter in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, logging more than 1,000 combat hours between 1966 and 1967, he told H-W News. State Rep. Kristin Kassner said it was her “great pleasure” to nominate McDonough for the recognition.
“He became a helicopter pilot and flew 900 missions in Vietnam, at least half being medical evacuations,” Kassner wrote in an email to H-W News. “His heroism saved the lives of countless soldiers, allowing them to come home to their families. His bravery and dedication to duty earned Leland the Distinguished Flying Cross.”
After returning home from the war, Kassner said, McDonough lived in Beverly before moving to Hamilton. She wrote that McDonough, who she called “a hero in war and in life,” was “a fierce and early advocate for affordable housing.”
As part of a team at the Beverly-based nonprofit We Care About Homes, McDonough said he helped secure and donate six two-family homes to Harborlight—another nonprofit aimed at putting housing in the area within reach—by utilizing grant money and fundraising.
McDonough was also involved with Pine Street Inn—a Boston-based organization aimed at ending homelessness—for over five decades, served as a member of the Beverly Housing Authority for more than three decades and has worked in the private sector, most recently as a financial advisor at Stifel, a wealth-management firm.
He continues to organize events for veterans, including local Memorial Day and Veterans Day breakfasts, through his role as adjutant at the American Legion A.P. Gardner Post 194, located on School Street in Hamilton.
In an email, McDonough thanked members of the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School’s Honor Society and others who have helped plant spring flowers and place flags on local veterans’ graves.
“Like most Veteran groups we have a declining membership, but the Post is more than surviving; it is prospering thanks to all those who give up their time and provide assistance,” he wrote.
McDonough said he is “driven by trying to do what I think is the right thing, not the consequences.”
