USA TODAY International Edition
After long review, airman to receive Medal of Honor
Chapman’s Afghanistan heroism to be recognized
WASHINGTON – A 30-month review of grainy drone footage, autopsy results and eyewitness accounts of Air Force Tech Sgt. John Chapman’s heroism on a frozen mountaintop in Afghanistan in 2002 prompted the Pentagon to upgrade his commendation to the nation’s highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, according to documents and interviews.
The painstaking review required more than two years of investigation in part because of the highly classified nature of Chapman’s mission as a special operator. Some of those charged with the review were not authorized for a time to see some of the information, according to an Air Force officer who spoke about the mission on condition of anonymity because officers were not authorized to speak publicly about the review.
Chapman, 36, was awarded the Air Force Cross posthumously after the battle of Roberts Ridge. There was no dispute at the time that he charged into enemy fire on a rescue mission to retrieve Neil Roberts, a Navy SEAL who was killed when he was thrown from a helicopter that had been attacked. Believing Chapman had been killed in the initial assault, his team retreated from the 11,000-foot mountain.
But the new analysis layered video footage from a Predator drone that circled overhead along with testimony from troops listening in on al-Qaida insurgents and autopsy results to show that Chapman had recovered from his initial wounds to continue fighting.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump is set to award his widow, Valerie Nessel, with the medal.
Among the review’s key findings is that Chapman survived at least six gunshot wounds to his heel, calf, back and liver and suffered a broken nose and other scars to his face while fighting the extremists. The autopsy found
that Chapman probably lost consciousness as a result of those wounds, leading his fellow commandos to believe that he had been killed, according to the officer.
The declassified footage from the drone shows grainy footage of movement by Chapman and gunfire coming from the bunker he occupied after his fellow troops had left. Intercepted communication from the insurgents also showed they referred to an American as a threat after Chapman had been left for dead.
When another helicopter arrived, Chapman emerged from the bunker, exposed his back to an enemy machine gun and fired at insurgents attacking the aircraft. The wound he suffered exploded his aorta, the officer said, a shot that killed him within 30 seconds. The troops who recovered Chapman’s body found that he had expended virtually all of 210 rounds of ammunition he had carried to battle.
The review of Chapman’s medal award was sparked in 2014 by an initiative launched by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to review awards for heroism after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. There was concern that the standards for conferring awards for valor had been overly stringent at the outset of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Chapman is the first airman to be awarded the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.
That examination resulted in the upgrade of several medals, including the Medal of Honor to Navy SEAL Britt Slabinski for his heroism in the battle on Roberts Ridge.
Hagel, in an interview, said the need for a review of awards was overdue. The counterinsurgency wars and the advent of drones had changed the nature of combat.
Personal experience also dictated the review. Hagel and his brother Tom served in combat in Vietnam. They saw firsthand medals awarded to troops who didn’t deserve them and other servicemen whose heroism was overlooked.
“This Medal of Honor is one example of how the system has worked,” Hagel said.