Overview
- President Trump presented the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony on Thursday to Maj. James Capers Jr., Maj. Nicholas Dockery and the late Col. John W. Ripley, whose family accepted the award.
- Capers was honored for leading a four-day reconnaissance patrol in Vietnam in March–April 1967, remaining in command despite multiple severe wounds and refusing evacuation until all his men were extracted.
- Ripley received the medal posthumously for single-handedly placing explosives under the Dong Ha bridge on April 2, 1972, actions that demolished the span and halted a North Vietnamese mechanized advance.
- Dockery was recognized for actions during an October 2, 2012 Taliban ambush in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, where he rescued wounded soldiers, directed helicopter support from an exposed rooftop, and kept his unit together under heavy fire; the ceremony included a brief, widely shared moment when the president tied the medal ribbon rather than fastening the clasp.
- Lawmakers and veterans pushed for these upgrades for years, and the March signing of legislation that waived the statutory five-year deadline enabled the Pentagon and White House to complete long-pending reviews and confer the honors.