President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to three veterans on Thursday, honoring acts of heroism that saved lives and repelled enemy forces in Vietnam and Afghanistan.
Heroic Acts
Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr. and Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery received the award for their bravery, while Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley was awarded posthumously.
Capers, 88, was honored for risking his life to ensure the safety of his fellow Marines after they were ambushed in Vietnam in 1967. He called in air support to repel the ambush and loaded all the wounded men before climbing aboard a rescue helicopter.
Ripley was honored for a heroic effort to halt the advance of North Vietnamese forces by blowing up a crucial bridge in 1972. He single-handedly placed 500 pounds of explosives to bring it down, exposing himself to enemy fire.
Dockery’s platoon members were guarding a compound in Afghanistan’s Kapisa Province in 2012 when they were ambushed by an estimated 150 Taliban fighters. He rescued wounded soldiers and coordinated a rescue effort, refusing to leave the village until all the wounded soldiers were taken to safety.
Original reporting: 40/29 / KHBS (NW Arkansas) — read the source article.
