Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Conn. airman killed in ’02 awarded Medal of Honor
WASHINGTON — Moments after Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts fell from a battle-damaged helicopter onto a snowy mountain in Afghanistan, Air Force Tech. Sgt. John Chapman and his Navy SEAL teammates made a fateful decision: They would scramble back to Roberts on another aircraft, knowing that al-Qaida fighters were closing in.
The ensuing battle at Takur Ghar on March 4, 2002, was one of the ugliest near the outset of the Afghanistan war, and it was examined by the U.S. military after the deaths of Roberts, Chapman and five other U.S. service members.
But for years, official accounts left out a major detail: Chapman, alone on a battlefield, fended off alQaida fighters attempting to flank him in a bunker as his ammunition ran low. He later exited the bunker to take aim at insurgents preparing to launch rocketpropelled grenades at a CH-47 helicopter arriving as part of a rescue operation. Chapman was mortally wounded in the back by machine-gun fire.
The helicopter was hit by enemy gunfire and made a controlled landing. However, the situation could have been worse had Chapman not taken aim at the insurgents, Air Force officials said.
On Wednesday, Chapman, 36, of Windsor Locks, Conn., posthumously became the first member of the Air Force since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor in combat.
In a ceremony at the White House, President Donald Trump credited him with fighting to the death and then handed a frame holding the award to Chapman’s widow, Valerie Nessel.
“Through his extraordinary sacrifice, John helped save more than 20 American service members, some of whom are here today,” Trump said.
The ceremony brought to a close a yearslong discussion of whether Chapman had been appropriately recognized for his valor. The wounded airman was alone in his last hour after Navy SEALs fighting alongside him withdrew under fire to assist wounded colleagues, the Air Force found in 2016. The SEALs thought he was dead, they later said.
On the basis of Chapman’s actions early in the battle, he posthumously was awarded the Air Force Cross — second only to the Medal of Honor — in 2003 for actions that included charging up a steep hill under fire in the battle and killing at least two militants inside a bunker.
However, the Air Force more recently determined that Chapman had been knocked unconscious in the initial firefight and awoke afterward to continue fighting.
Former Air Force secretary Deborah James recommended an upgrade to the Medal of Honor after an examination of drone footage and interviews with service members who monitored his final moments by radio and aircraft sensors.
The Pentagon long ago recognized Chapman, Air Force Senior Airman Jason Cunningham and Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Britt Slabinski with awards for their valor in the battle, but it was forced to confront the conclusion that the SEAL team withdrew thinking that Chapman was dead.
The president invited Nessel onto a dais to receive the award on Chapman’s behalf, and she was joined by the couple’s daughters and Chapman’s mother, Terry.
Nessel blew a kiss toward the sky and waved upward while holding the framed award.
Chapman receiving the Medal of Honor validates how significant his final actions were, she said.
“Each of those men were doing what they were trained to do,” Nessel said beforehand. “You’re at 10,000-foot, in waist-deep snow. You can’t Mondaymorning quarterback anything. Each of those men are heroes. They are.”