Navy Chief Petty Officer Fred Henry McGuire’s medical training was desperately needed when an inland patrol he was on in the Philippines was attacked in 1911. McGuire was credited with saving the lives of two fellow service members. For his selflessness, he was bestowed with the Medal of Honor.  

McGuire was born Nov. 7, 1890, in Gordonville in southeast Missouri. His parents were Frank and Virginia McGuire, and he had three younger brothers: Bern, Billy and Bruce.  

McGuire joined the Navy in 1909 and was sent to train as a hospital apprentice, the predecessor to a current-day hospital corpsman. He was eventually sent to serve in the Philippines on the USS Pampanga, a patrol gunboat.  

U.S. forces had served throughout the island chain since 1898, when the Spanish-American War ended, and control of the Philippines was turned over to the U.S. However, many revolutionaries in the country weren’t pleased with having a new foreign power controlling them, so rebellion broke out again soon after the power transfer. It was quelled in 1902, but small resistance groups continued to crop up more than a decade later.  

On Sept. 24, 1911, McGuire was part of an eight-man attachment sent to support Army troops engaged in putting down some of those rebellions. With him were four other enlisted sailors, Navy Ensign Charles Hovey, a local guide and Jose Nisperos, a member of the Philippine scout force. The group was sent to the island of Basilan to help free the village of Mundang from insurgents.  

As they were walking along a trail, they came upon a group of shacks, known locally as nipa huts. McGuire and two of his fellow sailors were ordered to stand guard about 100 yards from the shacks while Hovey, Nisperos, the local guide and the last two sailors searched the surrounding deep grasses.  

When that group moved into an open area in front of the huts, enemy insurgents immediately opened fire, and 20 other combatants inside the huts and in other concealed positions charged them. The local guide was killed while Nisperos, Hovey and Ordinary Seaman John H. Catherwood were seriously injured.  

McGuire heard their calls for help and quickly ran to the scene. He emptied his rifle into the attackers, then used the weapon as a club against the remaining insurgents until his fellow sailors made it to the scene to help. He then did his best to aid Hovey, who died from his injuries shortly after telling McGuire to take care of the other wounded men.  

McGuire was also injured during the melee, but he ignored his own wounds to “tirelessly and efficiently” help Nisperos and Catherwood, according to his Medal of Honor citation. Without his aid, both men may have died from their wounds.  

After the fight ended, another scouting party came to their rescue and helped them return to safety.  

McGuire was bestowed with the Medal of Honor in January 1912. The other enlisted sailors on the mission also received the award: Catherwood, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jacob Volz, Seaman Bolden R. Harrison and Petty Officer 2nd Class George F. Henrechon. Nisperos, who lost his right arm after being shot and speared through the body, also earned the Medal of Honor for his valor.  

In 1913, McGuire married Florence Reed. Two years later, they had a daughter, Geraldine. The family settled in Mountain Grove, Missouri, around 1933, but McGuire remained in the Navy until retirement in 1939. He was recalled to active duty during World War II and served in the Hospital Corps Division at the Bureau of Medicine in Washington. He was put back on the retired list in October 1945, after the war ended. 

McGuire was a member of the America Legion and Kiwanis Club, as well as the Army and Navy Legion of Valor. 

McGuire died on Feb. 4, 1958, in the town of Mountain Grove. He is buried in Springfield National Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri.  

This article is part of a weekly series called “Medal of Honor Monday,” in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have received the U.S. military’s highest medal for valor.