Trump awards the Medal of Honor

Washington — President Donald J. Trump is scheduled to award the Medal of Honor on Thursday, June 18, 2026, to retired Maj. Nicholas Dockery of the U.S. Army; retired Maj. James Capers Jr. of the U.S. Marine Corps; and Col. John W. Ripley of the U.S. Marine Corps, the latter recognized posthumously, during a White House ceremony.

Capers will be honored for extraordinary valor as a team leader with 3d Force Reconnaissance Company, 3d Reconnaissance Battalion, during a four-day mission in Vietnam from March 31 to April 3, 1967. Tasked with finding a North Vietnamese regimental base, his patrol repeatedly encountered a larger enemy force. He persisted, calling in strikes on the enemy base to disrupt an attack on a nearby Marine unit. On the final day, after a claymore ambush left him badly wounded and under heavy fire, he continued to direct supporting fires, led his Marines to an extraction point, and refused evacuation until every member of his team was aboard.

Ripley will receive the medal posthumously for his actions on April 2, 1972, while serving as senior Marine advisor to the Third Vietnamese Marine Corps Infantry Battalion. As North Vietnamese forces advanced on a vital bridge in the village of Dong Ha, he labored alone for hours under intense fire to haul roughly 500 pounds of explosives into place, climbing beneath the structure along its steel beams to position charges at critical points. He then detonated the explosives, destroying the bridge and halting the enemy’s mechanized attack.

Dockery will be recognized for heroism on Oct. 2, 2012, in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, while serving as a platoon leader with 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. After his platoon was ambushed by a large, well-armed Taliban force in confined urban terrain, he fought for four hours, repeatedly exposing himself to danger to protect and evacuate three wounded soldiers. He later coordinated helicopter support from an exposed rooftop to repel follow-on attacks while his unit withdrew the injured.

The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest military decoration, awarded to service members who risk their lives with conspicuous gallantry that exceeds the call of duty in combat—whether in action against an enemy, in military operations involving an opposing foreign force, or while serving alongside allied forces engaged in conflict where the United States is not a belligerent.