Marines, Army Announce Three New Medal of Honor Recipients

Three American heroes, two Marines and a soldier, will become Medal of Honor recipients Thursday. One of the awards is posthumous, while two of the heroes will receive the prestigious medals in person.

The U.S. Army issued a press release on June 18 with some details on the three American troops receiving our nation’s highest military honor from President Donald Trump at a special ceremony. The recipients are Maj. James Capers, Jr., U.S. Marine Corps; Col. John W. Ripley, U.S. Marine Corps (deceased); and retired Maj. Nicholas Dockery, U.S. Army.

Capers was a second lieutenant and the team leader with the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company of the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Battalion in Vietnam in 1967. They were out on a multi-day reconnaissance patrol searching for a Communist Vietnamese regimental base camp. Even after three encounters with enemy forces that outnumbered his men, Capers continued his mission.

He successfully directed fire onto an enemy base camp, thwarting an impending attack on a nearby Marine battalion. On the final day, his patrol was ambushed by a claymore mine and came under a dense barrage of enemy fire, where he sustained multiple severe wounds. Ignoring his injuries and extreme blood loss, he continued to lead his team, coordinate supporting fire, and direct their movement to an extraction site. Refusing to be evacuated before all his men were safe, he ensured the entire team was extracted before finally boarding the helicopter.

As for Dockery, he was serving in 2012 with the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division in Afghanistan. On Oct. 2 of that year, a strong Taliban jihad group ambushed the American platoon, and a bitter four-hour conflict ensued. Despite the "extremely restricted" urban terrain and the tactics of the terrorists, Dockery managed to fight the terrorists while evacuating three injured comrades.

Dockery risked his own life while giving the orders and helping his men, and ultimately was able to direct rotary wing aircraft against enemy counter-attacks. He did this from an exposed rooftop as his unit was evacuating the wounded.

Sadly, one of the heroes will not be present to receive the honor in person. The Army press release described his daring deed:

Then-Capt. John W. Ripley will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on April 2, 1972, while serving as senior marine advisor to the Third Vietnamese Marine Corps Infantry Battalion in the Republic of Vietnam. While serving in this capacity, he played a pivotal role in halting a major North Vietnamese mechanized assault. The enemy’s rapid advance depended on the capture of a bridge in the village of Dong Ha. To destroy the bridge, Capt. Ripley single-handedly moved 500 pounds of explosives into position. For three hours, he repeatedly exposed himself to intense enemy fire as he climbed beneath the bridge along its bridge’s steel beams to emplace the explosive charges at key structural points. After successfully setting the explosives, he detonated the charges, completely destroying the bridge and stopping the enemy’s advance.

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