Marine receives Medal of Honor 60 years after Vietnam battle

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Major James Capers’ name is now permanently etched into the history of the nation’s most elite military forces.

At MacDill Air Force Base, Capers was honored with a permanent place on the Special Operations Memorial Wall — a rare and long-overdue tribute decades in the making.

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“This happens to be the first time an African, a Marine Corps Medal of Honor, has been given. And I appreciate that,” Capers said.

In the spring of 1967, during the Vietnam War, then-Second Lieutenant James Capers led a nine-man Force Reconnaissance team through rugged enemy terrain southwest of Phu Loc, Vietnam, said Robert Zachary III, vice president of the Special Operations Memorial Foundation…

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