Legendary Marine officer enshrined in the S.C. Military Veterans Hall of Fame
By Christopher David Carter
Major James Charles Capers Jr., U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), a June 2026 recipient of the Medal of Honor, was permanently enshrined in the S.C. Military Veterans Hall of Fame (SCMVHOF) in a private ceremony near the Capers family home in Bishopville, South Carolina, July 24.
A member of the elite Hall of Fame’s Medal of Honor Class, Capers, a veteran combat commander of the Vietnam War, joins several other Medal of Honor recipients from South Carolina, both living and deceased, who were formally inducted during the Hall of Fame’s annual induction dinner on June 6 also as members of the Hall’s Medal of Honor Class.
“Maj. James Capers and his extraordinary service enhance our Hall of Fame,” said Col. Steve Vitali, USMC (Ret.), a Hall of Fame inductee (Class of 2026). “It’s men like Capers [as well as our female inductees] who have created the need for a S.C. Military Veterans Hall of Fame honoring those veterans who have quite literally stood above the rest in peace and war since 1775.”
SCMVHOF Executive Director Jay Alverson, himself an inductee (Class of 2025), said: “The SCMVHOF’s mission is to honor, educate and inspire. With Major Capers’ induction we advance that mission by honoring one of the Palmetto State’s most iconic heroes.”
Alverson, a former U.S. Marine, retired USAF staff NCO and intelligence analyst, today an offensive line coach for the South Mecklenburg High School football team in Charlotte, N.C., adds: “As a young man I was inspired by Maj. Capers’ poster [Capers is famously recognized as a recruiting poster Marine officer], and it is now my job and my duty to insure the SCMVHOF tells his story hopefully to inspire current students to follow in his footsteps.”
Col. W. Thomas Smith Jr., a retired S.C. Military Department officer, formerly deployed U.S. Marine Infantry leader, and a SCMVHOF inductee (Class of 2025), also champions Capers’ induction into the Hall.
“Like his fellow inductees, Maj. Capers reflects all that is righteously noble about our Marine Corps and about those who served valiantly during that terrible war often not receiving the recognition they so justly deserved,” said Smith. “His citation for the Medal of Honor for his actions in 1967 reads like – and brings to mind – Johnny Basilone’s heroic stand, some 25 years earlier, near the Matanikau River on Guadalcanal.”
Read Capers’ full Medal of Honor citation at – https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/james-capers-jr
The S.C. Military Veterans Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with its permanent homesite to be located at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The earliest class of inductees, the Class of 1776, includes historical figures such as Brig. Gen. Francis Marion, Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter, Brig. Gen. Andrew Pickens, Maj. Gen. William Moultrie, Brig. Gen. William Washington, Maj. Gen. Johann Baron DeKalb, Lt. Col. John Laurens, and all four of S.C.’s signers of the Declaration of Independence, each of whom were also soldiers.
Nominations for the Class of 2027 and beyond must meet exacting standards and screening for induction as stipulated in the Hall of Fame’s bylaws. Not all nominees will be inducted. But all nominated military veterans who meet the criteria will be considered for possible induction. To nominate, please visit – https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing-nomination-form.
[Pictured in featured photoare Maj. James Capers and SCMVHOF Executive Director Jay Alverson on the evening of Capers’ induction into the SCMVHOF, July 24.]
– Chris Carter is a former semi-pro football player and U.S. Air Force veteran whose articles have appeared in Ops Lens, Human Events, Canada Free Press, The National Law Review, The Florida Times Union, Deutsche Welle, and NavySEALs.com among other publications.
