President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to three veterans at a White House ceremony Thursday, recognizing acts of heroism in Vietnam and Afghanistan. The recipients were retired Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr., retired Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery, and the late Marine Corps Col. John Ripley, whose son, Tom Ripley, accepted the medal on his behalf.
Trump opened his remarks by touting the stock market and lower oil prices, then appeared to joke that he wanted to award himself the nation’s highest military honor but was told he could not. He called Capers the first Black Marine in history to receive a battlefield commission during wartime when he was promoted to second lieutenant in the Vietnam War.
According to a White House release, Capers was awarded the medal for “acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty” in the spring of 1967. He led a four-day reconnaissance patrol that made contact on three occasions with a superior enemy force. On the final day, the patrol was ambushed. Trump said an explosion sent Capers into a tree, “ripping open his abdomen.” His body was pierced by 17 pieces of shrapnel and his leg was broken, but he refused to be extracted before his men were safe.
Trump said Capers was recommended for the award that year but his commanding officer died before signing the paperwork. “That’s a bad break. But now you’re doing it. This is maybe, this is better,” Trump said. “The nation kept you waiting far too long.”
Ripley was awarded the medal posthumously for his role in halting a major North Vietnamese mechanized assault by destroying a bridge in the village of Dong Ha. Trump described Ripley completing five trips to move explosives into position on the bridge while under gunfire. “When John detonated the explosives, the bridge collapsed into the river, crushing the advance and saved the hope of a free Vietnam for Easter morning,” the president said.
Dockery received the medal for actions on Oct. 2, 2012, in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan. Trump said about 150 Taliban fighters ambushed Dockery’s platoon as they were guarding the governor’s compound. For more than four hours, Dockery fought, risking his life to protect and evacuate three wounded members of his platoon, according to the White House. Trump said Dockery personally rescued members, killed one Taliban fighter, detained two others, killed two others in a separate confrontation, and administered CPR on an unconscious platoon member “until the sergeant’s heart kicked back in.”
“As we approach the 250th anniversary of our founding, we remember that we owe everything to heroes like those we celebrate today — men who went willingly to the darkest and most dangerous corners on Earth to defeat evil so we could live free,” Trump said. “That’s exactly what happened. These are great men, great people.”