Nicholas Dockery to Receive Medal of Honor on June 18 for 2012 Afghanistan Valor

Q: Why are Vietnam veterans being honored alongside a modern hero from the Afghanistan conflict?

They are being honored together because the White House ceremony is recognizing Medal of Honor-level valor across generations, not focusing on a single war. Nicholas Dockery is being awarded for actions in Afghanistan, while James Capers Jr. and John Ripley are being recognized for separate acts of extraordinary heroism in Vietnam. The pairing reflects how the Medal of Honor works: it is the nation’s highest military award for conspicuous gallantry, and recipients can be honored decades after the battlefield actions occurred. Capers’ case, for example, required years of advocacy and a congressional waiver because his 1967 actions were being upgraded long after the war. Ripley is being honored posthumously for his 1972 actions. Their inclusion also underscores a broader military tradition of linking service members from different eras through a shared standard of courage and sacrifice. Dockery’s 2012 fight in Afghanistan and the Vietnam veterans’ combat actions happened in very different conflicts, but all three cases involve the same threshold of selflessness under fire. So the reason is not that the wars are being compared directly. It is that the ceremony is using one occasion to recognize three separate acts of exceptional valor, including long-overdue recognition for Vietnam veterans alongside a modern soldier still serving from the Afghanistan era.

3 articles · Updated · KSAL · Jun 17

A White House ceremony is planned for 4 p.m. Eastern on Thursday to award Nicholas Dockery the Medal of Honor for actions during an October 2, 2012 battle in Afghanistan.
Dockery, then a second lieutenant in Kapisa Province, repeatedly crossed open ground under Taliban fire, shielded a fellow soldier from a grenade blast, led counterattacks and rescued an unconscious teammate being dragged away.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society said Dockery will be honored alongside James Capers Jr. and the late John Ripley, both recognized for service in Vietnam.
St. John’s Military School alumni in Salina say Dockery will be the first Medal of Honor recipient in the school’s 131-year history; he is also described as the only current living officer to hold the award.