December 2010 (6).qxd - United States Special Operations Command

Force Recon Marines
awarded for valor 43 years later
Story and photos by Staff Sgt. Ethan E. Rocke
MARSOC Public Affairs
Five Marines and a Navy corpsman who served with
3rd Force Reconnaissance Company, 3rd Reconnaissance
Battalion, 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam were
recognized with awards for valor in combat operations
conducted more than 43 years ago during a ceremony at
MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., Oct. 27.
Retired Maj. James Capers was awarded the Silver
Star Medal, the nation’s third highest award for valor, for
his actions as a patrol leader during a reconnaissance
mission in which his team, codenamed “Broadminded,”
supported Company M, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marine
Regiment, during a search and destroy mission against a
suspected regimental-sized enemy force.
Four members of Team Broadminded – Ron Yerman,
Richard Crepeau, John Moran and Billy Ray Smith –
received the Bronze Star Medal with a V device (to
designate valor) for actions during the same mission.
Jack Wright received the Bronze Star with Combat V for
his actions on a separate mission.
Team Broadminded engaged the enemy seven times
during their mission, which took place March 31 to April
3, 1967, in the vicinity of Phu Lac, Vietnam. On the final
day, a larger enemy force ambushed the nine-man patrol
with small-arms fire and several claymore mines. The
team was immediately pinned down, and every member
was wounded - most of them severely.
Capers, a second lieutenant then, took more than a
dozen pieces of shrapnel to his legs and abdomen.
Despite his wounds, Capers directed his team to lay
down suppressive fire to gain fire superiority and set up a
hasty defense. He called for mortar and artillery strikes
against the enemy, directed the treatment of the wounded
and called for the team’s evacuation, ensuring all his men
made it out alive.
Maj. Gen. Paul E. Lefebvre, commander of U.S.
Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command,
Retired Maj. James Capers was awarded the Silver Star
medal, the nation’s third highest award for valor, during a
ceremony at the MacDill Air Force Base officers club Oct. 27.
Capers was one of five Marines from 3rd Force
Reconnaissance Company who received awards for valor in
combat operations conducted more than 43 years ago.
recounted Capers’ accomplishments as a Marine, a
husband and a father before presenting him with the
medal in front of more than 100 guests, including family
members and friends of the awardees, several general and
field-grade officers and current members of the Marine
Corps Special Operations community.
Lefebvre said Capers is “one of history’s most
outstanding special operations team leaders.”
After thanking the assembled guests and humbly
accepting his award, Capers recounted the anti-war
culture that was prevalent during the Vietnam era. He
spoke directly to the assembled general officers,
challenging them to ensure that today’s generation of
warriors never have to suffer the bureaucratic failures
that plagued the Vietnam generation, such as poor
Tip of the Spear
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