Nearly six decades after leading his Marines through a brutal ambush in Vietnam, retired Marine Corps Major James Capers Jr. was awarded the Medal of Honor Thursday by President Donald Trump.
The 88-year-old, who is widely recognized as the “father of Marine Corps Special Operations,” dedicated the medal to the young men who made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States.
“I can’t say I’m happy to be here, because this award belongs to a lot of young men who followed me and died in battlefields around this world for a country that we honor this flag,” Capers said Friday on “Fox & Friends.”
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The ceremony conferred the nation’s highest military award upon three veterans — two from the Vietnam War and one from the Afghanistan War. Trump honored retired Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery and presented the award posthumously to Marine Col. John W. Ripley, who died in 2008.
Capers served in the Vietnam War, where he heroically saved his fellow Marines in combat. In 1967, his unit was ambushed in the jungle. Several service members were gravely injured that day, including Capers himself.
Even after suffering a stomach wound, a broken leg and heavy bleeding, he refused to quit. Capers continued leading his men, holding off the enemy until a medevac helicopter could reach them. He explained that what drove him through those difficult moments was his fellow Marines.
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“When your men [are] in peril, and you have an opportunity to save your men, then that’s what I chose to do, to get off the helicopter, to lighten the load so that my men can survive,” Capers said.
Capers was also the first African American to lead a Marine recon company and receive a battlefield commission. He has now been officially inducted into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes, though Capers admitted he has felt a sense of survivor’s guilt over the praise.
“It was a difficult time for me because I felt a little guilty because I didn’t really [feel] like I deserved it. But all of the men and women that served, and I get to do something like this, it’s a wonderful day, and I’m honored,” Capers said.
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He explained the heavy toll that his service took on himself, his family and those around him.
“I lost a lot of good men in battlefields and I fought two wars and suffered 19 bullet holes and along the way out of the battle zones. My son died in my arms of appendicitis and my wife of 50 years died of cancer,” he said.
“So I had to survive that on top of losing wonderful Marines, Special Operations Marines, in combat. So there’s no real satisfaction in getting a medal when I’ve lost so much.”
Despite the immense personal loss he has endured, he credited the military community for stepping up to support him in his moments of need.
“Well, that’s what the military does. We’re one unit, and when one falls, somebody else has to replace that person who fell,” Capers said. “So I feel honored to have the support that I find today. I’m honored, and I give gratitude to the ones who made this happen.”
During the White House ceremony, Trump thanked the three veterans for their unparalleled service, saying, “We will never, ever forget you.”
Capers’ story of heroism is retold in “The Iron Major: James Capers Jr.,” streaming now on Fox Nation.
Last November, Capers was recognized at the seventh annual Fox Nation Patriot Awards, receiving the “Salute to Service Award.”
