Medal of Honor recipient Phill Gene McDonald (September 13, 1941 – June 7, 1968) was born in Avondale (McDowell County) to Oscar Fred and Doris Roberts McDonald, one of 14 children. His family lived in Ritter Hollow, east of town. McDonald dropped out of school at age 16 and got a job in a lumber yard to help support his large family. The next year, he moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, where he lived with his sister Alice and worked in a cedar plant. He became a Sunday school teacher, played guitar, and planned to become a minister, earning the nickname “Preacher” during his service in the Vietnam War.

In 1967, he enlisted in the Army at Beckley, trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, and was assigned to Company A, 1^st Battalion, 14^th Infantry, 4^th Infantry Division. He arrived in Vietnam in March 1968 and was sent to Kontum province.

On June 7, 1968, while serving as platoon leader during a combat mission near Kontum City, Pfc. McDonald’s platoon was suddenly attacked by heavy automatic gunfire from a large, hidden enemy force. When two soldiers were wounded, McDonald volunteered to help carry them to a safe evacuation area. Crawling through intense enemy fire, he threw a grenade and destroyed an enemy machine gun that was threatening the rescue. After getting the wounded soldiers to safety, he returned to his platoon. He again volunteered—this time to provide covering fire so his platoon could move from their exposed position. Enemy forces focused their fire on him, and McDonald was seriously wounded. Even though he was badly injured, McDonald picked up another injured soldier’s weapon and continued firing to protect his comrades. When several soldiers were trapped by heavy fire from another enemy machine gun, he crawled toward it and attacked with grenades. During this act of courage, he was mortally wounded.

On April 7, 1970, President Richard Nixon personally presented McDonald’s Medal of Honor to his twin sister Phyllis. He is buried in Guilford Memorial Park in Greensboro. A small manuscript collection related to McDonald and his Medal of Honor are housed at the Greensboro History Museum.

In 2012, a portrait of McDonald and a copy of his Medal of Honor citation were hung in the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch. The following year, the legislature renamed a section of West Virginia Route 80 from Iaeger to Bradshaw as the Army PFC Phill G. McDonald Memorial Highway.