Vietnam War
James Capers Jr.
Second Lieutenant · U.S. Marine Corps
3d Force Reconnaissance Company, 3d Reconnaissance Battalion
31 March–3 April 1967 · near Phu Loc, Republic of Vietnam
Public domain. SECWAR. Wikimedia Commons. Source file
- Branch
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Era
- Vietnam War
- Home state
- South Carolina
- Action
- near Phu Loc, Republic of Vietnam
The citation
Official citation
Then-2nd Lt. James Capers, Jr. will receive the Medal of Honor for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty as a team leader with 3d Force Reconnaissance Company, 3d Reconnaissance Battalion in the Republic of Vietnam from March 31 to April 3, 1967. During a four-day reconnaissance patrol, he and his team were tasked with locating a North Vietnamese regimental base camp. Despite making contact with a numerically superior enemy force on three separate occasions, he tenaciously continued the mission. He successfully directed fire onto an enemy base camp, thwarting an impending attack on a nearby Marine battalion. On the final day, his patrol was ambushed by a claymore mine and came under a dense barrage of enemy fire, where he sustained multiple severe wounds. Ignoring his injuries and extreme blood loss, he continued to lead his team, coordinate supporting fire, and direct their movement to an extraction site. Refusing to be evacuated before all his men were safe, he ensured the entire team was extracted before finally boarding the helicopter.