Born to a South Carolina sharecropper in 1937, retired Marine Maj. James Capers Jr. is a child of the Jim Crow South. Once deemed “the spiritual founder of Marine Corps special operations,” Capers exemplary record of dangerous missions and tactical innovations earned him a place in the US Special Operations Command’s Commando Hall of Honor. Many believe he’s the ultimate Marine. But does he deserve the nation’s highest award for valor?
In 2008, more than four decades after he served as a Force Reconnaissance Marine in Vietnam, retired Maj. James Capers Jr. was nominated for the Medal of Honor. n 2010, Capers received a letter from the secretary of the Navy saying he had been awarded the Silver Star, a downgrade of two levels from the Medal of Honor. Photo by Ethan E. Rocke.