If reported plans hold true, Nicholas Dockery will be draped Thursday with a Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor as a soldier in Afghanistan.
A ceremony at the White House is planned for 1600 hours — 4 p.m. Eastern time and 3 p.m. Central in Salina.
A 2003 graduate of the now former St. John’s Military School in Salina, Dockery will be the first Medal of Honor recipient in SJMS’s 131-year history. The school in north Salina closed in May 2019. He is also the only current living officer to be awarded the military’s highest honor.
“I am very proud to announce that the Congressional Medal of Honor Society has just emailed me with the following announcement: CMOHS just confirmed that there will be three Medal of Honor presentations on 18 June this coming Thursday (June 18),” wrote Jeff Broome in an email. He is a member of the organization.
Honorees will include Dockery, James Capers Jr. and the late John Ripley. The latter two fought in Vietnam.
“Congratulations for the first SJMS cadet to be awarded the coveted Medal of Honor. You never earn it, but you do get awarded with not if your actions warrant this highest honor for bravery defending America,” Broome, 74, wrote in his email.
A retired PhD in philosophy, he graduated with Kent Tretheway, of Manhattan, who manages the SJMS Historical Museum on the west end of the former campus. Dockery’s dress uniform that he wore at the St. John’s graduation, is on display there.
Tretheway is equally thrilled for Dockery and the legacy of SJMS.
“I hope to see it on the 5 o’clock news. I’ll be over-the-top proud that we’re so well-represented,” Tretheway said. “St. John’s has turned out a lot of distinguished military servicemen and champions of industry. We don’t even know the successes of some of those people.”
From Indiana, Dockery attended St. John’s from grades 8 through 12, graduated with a 3.75 grade point overage, and was on the cadet leadership team with he rank of cadet major, Tretheway said. He achieved the rank of Major in the U.S. Army.
“We will be very, very proud to see Nick get that Medal of Honor,” Broome said. “I give SJMS a lot of of credit for what they did for him. We’re proud of the military training we got. To see Nick get that, we know the military school shaped him. too. I would not be alive is not for SJMS. The Episcopal Church was my anchored faith.”
Tretheway is “cautiously optimistic” that Dockery will visit Salina “so we can celebrate him and represent the SJMS Historical Museum. We’d love to host it.”
As a member of the U.S. Special Operations Command in 2012, Dockery saved a fellow soldier from being dragged away by enemy fighters in Afghanistan, according to a story by Hope Hodge Seck in the March 4, 2026, Military Times. There were other examples of his heroism in the story.
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Courtesy Photo
The National Medal of Honor Museum posted the following about Dockery:
“As a second lieutenant leading a combined force of American and Afghan soldiers in Kapisa Province on October 2, 2012, Dockery’s unit came under attack from a large Taliban force armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and small arms. Throughout the battle, Dockery repeatedly crossed open ground under enemy fire to rally friendly forces, reinforce isolated positions, and strengthen the defense. As the fighting intensified, he used his body to shield a fellow soldier from a grenade blast, led counterattacks against enemy fighters, and fought his way to an unconscious teammate who was being dragged away by enemy combatants. After rescuing the soldier and administering lifesaving aid, he continued exposing himself to enemy fire while directing the fight and helping friendly aircraft suppress the attack. Dockery continued serving after his deployment, earning the Green Beret and leading Special Forces teams in some of the military’s most demanding assignments.”
NOTE: Other back stories of Nicholas Dockery can be found on Tim Unruh’s Substack page.
