Trump awards 3 Medals of Honor for heroism in Vietnam, Afghanistan
What's new: The awards honored James Capers Jr. and Nicholas Dockery, plus John W. Ripley posthumously.
President Donald Trump on Thursday awarded the Medal of Honor to three veterans for battlefield heroism in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Trump honored retired Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr. and Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery in person and awarded the medal posthumously to retired Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley, who died in 2008. Capers was recognized for leading his team after a 1967 ambush in Vietnam despite severe wounds and for getting other injured Marines onto a rescue helicopter first. Ripley was cited for destroying the Dong Ha bridge in 1972 to slow a North Vietnamese advance. Dockery was honored for rallying his platoon during a 2012 Taliban ambush in Afghanistan's Kapisa Province, rescuing wounded soldiers and directing mortar fire.