Jim Capers Jr. was born into a sharecropper family in South Carolina in 1937. He moved to Baltimore, where he met his future wife, Dottie, and enlisted in the Marine Corps. Poverty and racial obstacles could not stop Capers from achieving his life goals.

In keeping with both his character and leadership ability, once deployed to Vietnam, Capers was selected to join a Force Recon Marine unit. He took part in 64 long-range reconnaissance patrols during five major combat offensives. The now 87-year-old retired Marine Veteran was the first Black man to receive a battlefield commission and lead a Marine Reconnaissance company — Team Broadminded, which was often chosen for the most dangerous reconnaissance missions.

During a mission clearing and patrolling the dense jungle trails outside of Phu Loc from March 31 to April 3, 1967, then-2ndLt Capers and his team were ambushed by a much larger force on the final day of their operation. He and his seven other patrol Marines suffered severe shrapnel wounds from claymore mines, one causing a large gut wound and breaking his leg. But he persevered, refusing the direction of a Corpsman to pull back and directing air strikes and artillery and mortar fire to stop the Vietcong advance.

He ordered injured Marines to be taken to an evacuation LZ while he and two other Marines provided suppression and cover fire. For an hour, he held off the enemy with his rifle and grenades until he had exhausted his ammo. He then resorted to using his pistol rather than retreating, though he had suffered so much blood loss that he was at risk of losing consciousness.

He continued to fight until all his Marines were on the exfil helicopters, and only then did he make his way to the last helicopter and pull himself aboard. When that overloaded helicopter struggled to lift off, he attempted to jump out, sacrificing himself to lighten the load, but the MEDEVAC crew chief pulled him back in.

When evaluated for his wounds, it was determined he had also been shot several times in addition to the 19 pieces of shrapnel embedded into his body.

All of his Marines survived largely because of his actions. For his heroic defense of his men, despite his severe wounds and perilous risk to his own life, he was awarded only a Bronze Star, which was upgraded to a Silver Star decades later, in 2010. He is also the recipient of two additional Bronze Stars with “V” and three Purple Hearts.

While recovering stateside from his injuries, Capers was chosen to lead the national “Ask a Marine” recruiting campaign, and he became the most well-known face in Marine Corps recruiting.

After Vietnam, he served as a field agent in various covert Cold War operations in Eastern Europe and Africa — operations that remain classified to this day.

In 2010, in recognition of his development of Recon training tactics still being used by SF Operators around the world today, Capers was among the first in the inaugural class of inductees into the Commando Hall of Honor at U.S. Special Operations Command’s headquarters.

Despite the fact that his actions merit a Medal of Honor, and even though others have advocated for that award, Joe Biden ignored requests that he be considered.

This is likely because, as fellow Marine and friend Bill Cortese notes, Capers did not toe the military DEI line. According to Cortese: “Anyone who knows Maj. Capers knows that he is not someone who bought into any of the woke ideology the last administration was pushing. He wouldn’t … sing the song that they wanted, and so, I think they just decided to sit on their hands and not do anything, which is sad and unfortunate.”

Cortese and others advocating for Capers’s Medal of Honor “are just trying to do the right thing.”

Cortese says: “This administration knows how to do the right thing when it comes to Veterans. We know President Trump cares about our Veterans. We know he cares about recognizing their heroic actions. And so, we feel very positive about this new administration that they’re going to recognize the value in this both for the Veteran community itself, but also for the country as a whole.”

In what I conclude was a December rebuke of Maj. Capers’s noncompliant views regarding the Biden administration’s reckless woke military policies, the “leadership” of the Naval Academy and West Point rejected a program advertisement during the Army-Navy game promoting his heroic service.

That resulted in an open letter of protest from 23 Republican lawmakers, stating: “Major Capers, a distinguished Marine veteran and Medal of Honor nominee, embodies the values of courage, dedication and sacrifice that our service academies strive to instill in their cadets and midshipmen. Recognizing him in the commemorative program for such a historic event would have been a fitting tribute to his legacy and contributions.”

Last week, 47 members of the U.S. House and Senate issued a formal letter asking President Trump to expedite Capers’s Medal of Honor consideration.

“We firmly believe that Major James Capers, Jr., has met the stringent criteria for the Medal of Honor,” the lawmakers wrote. “His selfless actions, leadership, courage, and initiative uphold the highest traditions of the United States Armed Forces. The exceptional valor displayed by Major Capers during his missions in the Republic of Vietnam from March 31 to April 3, 1967, serves as a shining example for all servicemen and women, and it is deserving of the highest recognition.”

It is certainly our hope, given James Capers’s advancing age, that Donald Trump will act sooner rather than later to expedite his Medal of Honor nomination.

Maj. James Capers: Your example of valor — a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty and in disregard for the peril to your own life — is eternal.

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Live your life worthy of his sacrifice.

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

Follow Mark Alexander on X/Twitter.

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