Donald Trump just awarded the military’s highest honor to three veterans for acts most people will never believe. The president recognized extraordinary battlefield heroism from Vietnam and Afghanistan at a White House ceremony.
James Capers Jr., Nicholas Dockery, and John W. Ripley are recognized
President Donald Trump presented the Medal of Honor to three veterans on Thursday, as reported by the Associated Press. The ceremony honored acts of heroism during combat in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Trump bestowed the military’s highest honor on Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr. and Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery. He also awarded it posthumously to Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley, who died in 2008. “These are great men, great people,” Trump said at the ceremony.
Capers, 88, earned the recognition for risking his life during a 1967 ambush in Vietnam. A mine explosion left him with a broken leg and serious abdominal wounds. “After a shot of morphine, Jim asserted command of the firefight,” Trump said. He called in air support and loaded all wounded men onto a rescue helicopter before boarding himself.
Ripley received the honor for halting the advance of North Vietnamese forces in 1972. He single-handedly placed 500 pounds of explosives on a crucial bridge in Dong Ha village. Over five hours, he climbed back and forth along steel beams under enemy fire. “John completed not one, not two, but five such trips,” Trump said. Ripley then detonated the bridge and stopped an approaching force of 30,000 soldiers and 200 tanks.
Meanwhile, Dockery earned the medal for his actions during a 2012 ambush in Afghanistan’s Kapisa Province. An estimated 150 Taliban fighters attacked his platoon while they guarded a compound. He raced across open ground to rally his scattered team and locate missing soldiers. After killing two enemy fighters, he performed CPR on a wounded American soldier. Dockery then shielded the soldier from mortar blasts with his own body. “You were the last man to depart the battlefield that day,” Trump told him.
Originally reported by Vritti Johar on Mandatory.com.
