In a ceremony at the White House last week, US President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to retired US Marine Corps Major James Capers Jr for his “extraordinary courage” during his service in the Vietnam War.
Capers made history as the first living black Marine to be awarded America’s highest military decoration.
In the spring of 1967, Capers led a 9 person reconnaissance team near Phu Loc, Vietnam. Despite receiving several wounds from gunshots and shrapnel during an enemy ambush, Capers continued directing his team’s movements and coordinating the evacuation.
He refused to board their evacuation helicopter until after all of his Marines were safely extracted.
“His Medal of Honor recognizes not only extraordinary courage in combat, but a lifetime defined by service to others,” the Museum of the Medal of Honor wrote in its citation of Capers’ service.
Major James Capers Jr was born in Bishopville, South Carolina in 1937 during the Jim Crow era and was raised in a family of sharecroppers.
Capers joined the Marine Corps in 1956 where he became the first black Marine to join Force Reconnaissance, and the first black Marine to receive a battlefield commission in Marine Special Operations. Later in his service Capers became the first black Marine to command a reconnaissance company.
Capers retired from the Marine Corps in 1978, dedicating his time to serving fellow veterans.
