We Remember the M60 Gunner who held the line: Sp4c. Cutinha
Nicholas Cutinha held the line with his M60, saving nine comrades before giving his life in Vietnam.
August 1, 2026
When a member of Nicholas J. Cutinha’s family shared his photograph, she explained that he had been an M60 machine gunner. Among American soldiers, the powerful and heavy M60 was commonly known as “the Pig.”
That small family detail adds something deeply personal to the official words of his Medal of Honor citation. Cutinha was not simply carrying a machine gun that day near Gia Dinh. He became the firepower protecting an entire group of wounded and disorganized soldiers.
Specialist Four Cutinha was serving with Company C when his unit was suddenly attacked by a battalion-sized enemy force using small arms, automatic weapons, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. Communications with the battalion were lost almost immediately. The company commander and numerous soldiers became casualties, leaving much of the unit pinned down and without direction.
Seeing what was happening, Cutinha moved forward.
With complete disregard for his own safety, he carried his M60 toward the front and opened fire on the charging enemy. His actions drew hostile fire toward his position, and he was seriously wounded in the leg. Still, he continued fighting.
As the attack intensified and nearly half the company was killed or wounded, Cutinha assumed command of the surviving soldiers around him. He organized their withdrawal while using his machine gun to cover the evacuation of the wounded.
Incoming fire eventually destroyed his weapon and wounded him in the leg again. Yet even that did not stop him.
Unable to walk, Cutinha crawled through the enemy fire until he reached another working machine gun. From that position, he continued defending the wounded soldiers receiving medical treatment nearby. He refused assistance and remained behind the gun, firing until he was mortally wounded.
By the end of the fight, Specialist Four Nicholas J. Cutinha had killed 15 enemy soldiers and was credited with saving the lives of at least nine members of his company.
The Medal of Honor citation records the extraordinary facts of his final stand. His family’s photograph helps us see the young man behind those words—the soldier who carried “the Pig,” moved toward the danger and used it to protect his comrades when they needed him most.
Today, we remember Medal of Honor recipient Specialist Four Nicholas J. Cutinha and the courage that held the line when everything around him was falling apart.
Click Here to read his Medal of Honor Citation
He carried the “Pig” in combat. Learn more about the M60 machine gun and the men who depended on it.