WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to three servicemen Thursday, recognizing acts of valor in Vietnam and Afghanistan that military leaders said exemplified extraordinary courage under fire.
The recipients were retired Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr., retired Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery, and Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley, who received the nation’s highest military decoration posthumously.
Following the White House ceremony, all three were inducted into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes, which commemorates the more than 3,500 service members who have received the Medal of Honor since its creation during the Civil War.
The awards recognized actions spanning more than five decades of U.S. military history.
Ripley was honored for actions on April 2, 1972, while serving as a senior Marine advisor during the Vietnam War. Military officials credited him with destroying a strategic bridge under enemy fire, helping halt a North Vietnamese advance.
Accepting the recognition on behalf of his father, Tom Ripley recalled a radio message delivered after the operation.
“‘Leatherneck, this is Leatherneck Delta. Report: powder dry, morale high, Semper Fi,'” he quoted his father as saying.
Capers, 88, was recognized for actions near Phú Lộc, Vietnam, in 1967. Despite sustaining multiple wounds, he continued directing the evacuation of fellow Marines and refused evacuation until others had been removed from the battlefield, according to military officials.
“Your applause reminds me of some dark days, of some brave men — so I’ll speak for them,” Capers told attendees.
Dockery received the award for actions during combat operations in Afghanistan, where he repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire while engaging Taliban forces and evacuating wounded members of his platoon.
“Our nation is filled with great moments of unity every day,” Dockery said following his induction into the Hall of Heroes. “I love my country, and if we all remember this, the best of America is yet to come.”
During the ceremony, Trump described the recipients as examples of service members who faced extreme danger in defense of the nation.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth linked the honorees’ actions to a broader tradition of military service, stating that Capers and Ripley demonstrated the same spirit of sacrifice displayed by earlier generations of Americans.
The Hall of Heroes induction formally adds the recipients’ names to the Pentagon memorial honoring Medal of Honor awardees from every branch of the U.S. armed forces.
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