A Light in the Hallway
Something like this happens all over the country. In a tired apartment building, a hallway light burns out. Neighbors keep walking past it, complaining about the dark as they dig through their pockets for their keys. Days turn into weeks, ending up as months, while that stretch of hallway remains dim.
Then, one afternoon, the hallway is bright again. Nobody said a word, no note, nothing. Someone quietly found a light bulb and the time nobody seemed to have, climbed a stool not built for climbing, and made things bright again. The person who improves the lives around them continues living life unnoticed.
It's how people like Major James Capers Jr. carry themselves. We don't see their books in airport kiosks, and they don't wait for applause. They simply shoulder the burden, restore the light for others, and never demand that you remember who held the ladder.
The Marine Who Led From the Front
In April 1967, in the jungles near Phú Lộc, Second Lieutenant Capers led a nine-man recon team that fell under an ambush. Lt. Capers took gunfire and shrapnel while directing support fires, refusing evacuation until his Marines were aboard the chopper. The man received multiple wounds, broken legs, and a crash during extraction, while being a leader who continued leading his men under fire.
Humility Writes the Longest Citations
At the very end of the documentary "We Stand Alone Together," Major Richard (Dick) Winters recounted a letter from a grandchild to her grandfather, who fought during World War II. In the letter, the child asked her grandfather if he was a hero during the war. He said, "No, but I served with them."
Ask a vet about gallantry, and they always direct the conversation to someone else. If asked about medals, I would imagine Capers would point to his brother Marines who didn't make it home to their family.
Capers turns 88 later this month, and he was one of 100 service members attending a White House ceremony commemorating National Purple Heart Day.
“I was honored,” Capers told Task & Purpose on Friday. “He’s a gracious man and he’s got a lot on his plate and to take the time to do this Purple Heart holders is very gracious.”
Capers also said that if he eventually receives the Medal of Honor, it will reflect the efforts of many who helped make it happen, including his son Gary, who died in 2003, and his wife Dottie, who died six years later.
“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but it really belongs to the men that I lost along the way and my family — all gone now,” Capers said. “It belongs to them more than it does to me.”
There isn't any reason to add fiction to an amazing story: A force recon leader, grievously wounded, led a small team—including King, who patrolled with the team—out of an ambush.
With intentions to recommend Capers for the nation's highest award, a senior general died in a helicopter crash before advancing the required paperwork.
His Bronze Star was later upgraded to the Silver Star; the gap between valor and decoration seemed to grow.
Time for The Medal of Honor
One hundred thirty-three retired senior enlisted leaders have been urging President Donald Trump to press Congress to pass H.R. 3377, which authorizes the President to Award the Medal of Honor to James Capers Jr. for acts of valor as a member of the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
The letter, written August 4, was written by retired Marine Sgt. Maj. Bryan Battaglia, who asked Trump to urge lawmakers to approve the bill introduced by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), which waives the requirement that the medal must be awarded within five years of the actions.
“Awarding Major Capers the MoH is not just about honoring one Warrior — it’s about standing up for every Warrior,” wrote Battaglia, who served as Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2011 to 2015.
Why do Quiet Men Seldom Tell Loud Stories?
Have you ever noticed that people carrying the heaviest loads speak softly, because noise can cheapen memories, especially those who paid the highest price?
One of the greatest reasons free societies survive is that citizens, in our case, most citizens, reward and recognize courage and sacrifice.
Caper grew up in Jim Crow Carolina, enlisted in 1956, and rose through the ranks because of his abilities, breaking barriers. According to the VA, he became the first enlisted black American Marine to receive a battlefield commission and the first black American Marine to command a Force Reconnaissance Company.
Valor Belongs to a Generation, Not Only a Man
Unfortunately, it often takes a push by lawmakers to upgrade a medal, reminding a country that decorations do more than honor a single warrior; they mark a standard for the next generation. That standard? It keeps a republic disciplined, unlike DEI and other creative acronyms the loony left, Hollywood, and college administrations create with the effort of turning our warriors into props and memory into silly costumes.
What Capers did was tell young Marines that leadership isn't merely a word; it means standing in the breach, being the first to climb aboard, and doing the types of things that aren't found in any training manual.
Leadership at the Top Matters
When writing about Major Capers, I would be talking about hundreds of other brave men and women who voluntarily stood up for people like me, who couldn't. They went to jungles, mountains, and islands to defend our freedom.
On matters of honor, presidential attention sets the tempo and tone. Marines, sailors, and soldiers visiting the American Legion know it; the families who receive folded flags feel it.
As it should be, we have in President Trump a president who prioritizes the dignity of veterans and the urgency of overdue awards of valor, which strengthens the bonds between a nation and those who fight for it.
Our Country Still Needs The Standard Capers Set
Character, not slogans, reminds people that freedom rests with military virtue, which, in the end, preserves democratic life. We read stories by men who lived and bled in combat; the mud, fear, laughter, and sacrifice. Gratitude carries the readers of those stories to the moment they realize that our freedom rests on people like Capers, a Marine who told his men to get on board as he held the enemy at bay; a wounded leader refusing to be the first man on board. Then, later in life, he transitions to a citizen, showing up at ceremonies, not for applause, but to stand there in place of those who can no longer stand.
Final Thoughts
Any republic forgetting courage forgets itself. Capers doesn't need fame; he already owns the gratitude of the Marines who survived that day because he wouldn't leave them.
Our country needs his medal more than he does. Nations are supposed to teach children about honor by reading about men like Major James Capers Jr., while they are still here, so they see and acknowledge our respect and appreciation.
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