McDonald joined the Army from
Beckley, West Virginia, in 1967, and served as a
private first class in Company A, 1st Battalion,
14th Infantry Regiment,
4th Infantry Division. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during a June 7, 1968 firefight near
Kontum in
South Vietnam, during
Operation MacArthur. McDonald, aged 26 at his death, was buried in Guilford Memorial Park,
Greensboro, North Carolina. ==Medal of Honor citation==