Trump awards Medal of Honor to three veterans

President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to three former service members in a ceremony at the White House on Thursday, June 18, 2026. The nation's highest military decoration was presented to two veterans of the Vietnam War and one from the war in Afghanistan.

The recipients are retired Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr., retired Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery, and Marine Col. John W. Ripley, who received the award posthumously. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were among those in attendance.

Maj. James Capers Jr., now 88, was recognized for his actions as a second lieutenant leading a reconnaissance patrol in Vietnam from March 31 to April 3, 1967. According to the White House, his team located a North Vietnamese regimental base camp, and he directed fire onto it, thwarting an attack on a nearby Marine battalion. On the final day, his patrol was ambushed by a claymore mine and intense enemy fire, during which Capers sustained multiple gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries. Despite his wounds, he continued to lead his team to an extraction site and refused evacuation until all his men...