Former Marine Corps Maj. James Capers salutes during a ceremony at Camp Lejeune, N.C., in June 2021. (Patrick King/U.S. Marine Corps)
The Senate this week cleared the way for a legendary Force Reconnaissance Marine to receive the Medal of Honor for his lifesaving actions in April 1967 that spared the lives of his nine-man team during a vicious fight in Vietnam.
The unanimous approval of the bill Tuesday waived time restrictions to consider the Medal of Honor for retired Maj. James Capers Jr., who despite his own horrible injuries cleared the way for his Recon team to safely evacuate the village of Phu Loc after it was ambushed by North Vietnamese soldiers. Capers, 88, helped his Marines — all of them wounded in the attack — board a helicopter and fought off the assaulting force to ensure the bird’s escape.
The Senate vote came about one month after the House approved the measure, sending the bill to President Donald Trump. Trump will have the final say on if the Silver Star awarded to Capers in 2010 for his actions at Phu Loc will be upgraded to the nation’s top military honor.
“I’m proud Congress has acted to send this legislation to the President’s desk to ensure Maj. Capers receives the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for valor, and the gratitude of a nation he served with honor,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who introduced the legislation to allow Capers the Medal of Honor in May 2025, said in a statement. “We applaud you, and our nation thanks you for your service.”
Norman has lobbied Trump since the beginning of his second administration to award Capers the Medal of Honor. Many other supporters, including several veterans’ groups and filmmakers, have worked even longer to see Capers’ award upgraded.
Retired Marine Maj. James Capers Jr. pictured in 2015 near his home in North Carolina. (Courtesy of MJC Ent.)
Capers, in a 2018 interview with Stars and Stripes, said he was proud to receive the Silver Star, the military’s third highest award for battlefield valor. That award came after he was nominated for the Medal of Honor, but the Marine Corps downgraded the decoration after review. Receiving the top award for heroism, he said, would mean more for the men with whom he fought and bled that day at Phu Loc. Capers also said it would alleviate any concern that his skin color influenced the downgrade decision.
Capers, the first Black man to lead a Marine reconnaissance company and receive a battlefield commission, had been in Vietnam about a year when his unit — known at Team Broadminded — was ambushed that day in April 1967. The team had already conducted dozens of highly classified commando raids, often behind enemy lines.
But the fighting that day at Phu Loc was perhaps more intense than any had ever seen, Capers said.
The attack was initiated by claymore mines that ripped Capers’ abdomen open and broke his leg, but he was undeterred. He charged ahead to free his injured men from the assault.
“If I was going to die there in Vietnam, I was going to die fighting,” Capers said.
He fought off the attacking force — an entire NVA regiment — for nearly an hour, taking bullet wounds to both of his legs, as his team escaped to a landing zone for helicopter extraction.
When the chopper arrived, Capers ordered his men and their dead war dog — King, who was killed in the attack — loaded first. Then he jumped off the helicopter as it struggled to take off.
“I figured it’s better to lose one man than to lose the whole team,” Capers said. “Any commander worth his salt would care for his men before his self.”
But his men objected, ultimately, pulling Capers back aboard the helicopter, which after two attempts escaped the battle. All nine members of Capers’ unit survived the enemy ambush, each injured but alive.
Capers “demonstrated extraordinary courage and leadership during the Vietnam War, risking everything to save his fellow Marines while severely wounded,” Norman said. “His heroism has been known for decades, but the recognition he deserves has been far too long in coming.”
James Capers Jr. is pictured in the undated photo during his time in Vietnam as a team leader in Third Force Recon. (Courtesy of MJC Ent.)
2nd Lt. James Capers Jr., pictured bottom right, poses for a photo with other members of Third Force Recon’s Team Broadminded around the time they conducted a Top Secret raid in an attempt to free prisoners of war held by the North Vietnamese in late 1966 known as Operation Double Talk. (Courtesy of MJC Ent.)
