Major Jim Capers, a man, and a legend.
Major Capers is one of the most decorated Force Recon Marines in history. He served in more than 50 classified missions and has been injured in service nearly 20 times.
The story of Major Capers is one that is only recently being told and will soon be brought to the big screen in a documentary entitled Major Capers, The Legend of Team Broadminded.
While the documentary focuses on the life of Capers, he says it’s not just his story being told.
“It’s the story of all those young men that died in the places we can’t even pronounce. Fifty-five thousand died in Vietnam, more than 55,000. It’s not about me, it’s about the veterans, the guys that spilled their blood and spent all those years away from their families,” said Capers.
Ashley Cusato has spent the last eight years with Major Capers, writing, producing and directing the documentary. She says it was a project that allowed her to serve and bring awareness to the story of Major Capers.
“I understood the weight and the responsibility that came with telling this story from the very beginning and when I made the commitment I knew it was something I was going to stick to until I crossed the finish line until we brought this project to fruition," said Cusato.
The project not only looks at the missions that Major Capers led overseas but also his place in history after returning to the States.
In 1967 he was chosen to become the face of the Marines in a campaign that ran for seven years.
“A lot of the young officers, Marines came in and they made colonel and general and they were motivated by that recruiting poster,” said Capers.
Having received multiple medals, awards, and honors, Major Capers says his legacy is credited to his faith in God and the words his father told him at Camden station in 1956.
“Son you’re a Capers. If ten men start up a flight of steps and only one man makes it to the top, you believe that you’ll be that man. You have to have that belief. It wasn’t all me. It was God who took me around the world and brought me home safely," said Capers.
The Documentary doesn’t have a release date yet but has already won the "Best Documentary Local Choice Award” at the GI Film Festival in San Diego. And has been selected to premiere at the GI Film Festival in Washington DC in May of 2019.
