President Donald Trump took part in a Medal of Honor ceremony Thursday, where he awarded the honor to three members of the U.S. military for their actions in combat.
Major James Capers, Jr., U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), Colonel John W. Ripley, U.S. Marine Corps (Posthumous), and Major Nicholas Dockery, U.S. Army (Retired) all received the award, for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty.
Capers received the award for his actions while he was a Second Lieutenant, serving as a Team Leader with the 3d Reconnaissance Battalion during the Vietnam War.
During a four-day mission on March 31 to April 3, 1967, Capers led the attack on a North Vietnamese base camp and then extracted his team while severely injured and under heavy fire.
Ripley posthumously received the award for his actions while he was a Captain and a Senior Marine Advisor to the Third Vietnamese Marine Corps Infantry Battalion during the Vietnam War.
On April 2, 1972, Ripley singlehandedly rigged a critical bridge with hundreds of pounds of explosives, working for three hours while under enemy fire and ultimately destroying the bridge to stop a North Vietnamese mechanized advance.
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Dockery received the award for his actions while he was a Second Lieutenant, serving as a Platoon Leader in the 4th Infantry Division during the war in Afghanistan.
On October 2, 2012, Dockery's platoon was ambushed by the Taliban. He began a four-hour urban firefight, during which he risked his life to get three wounded members of his team to safety. He then directed air support to defend against continued attacks while the wounded soldiers were evacuated.
