A race to remember
Windsor Locks Medal of Honor recipient John A. Chapman to be honored at Coca-Cola 600 this weekend in Charlotte
More than 18 years since his death, Medal of Honor recipient and Windsor Locks native John A. Chapman, a technical sergeant with the Air Force who served in Afghanistan, will be honored yet again, this time during NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Chapman’s name will be featured in the 600 Miles of Remembrance, in which each of the 40 cars participating in the race will display the name of a fallen service member on its windshield. Driver Martin Truex Jr. will be honoring Chapman.
Chapman graduated from Windsor Locks High School in 1983, where he played soccer and was a diver, before joining the Air Force after the Sept. 11 attacks and being deployed to Afghanistan. He was killed on March 4, 2002 at age 36 trying to save his fellow troops and was the first Connecticut resident to die in combat in Afghanistan. Chapman was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the military’s most prestigious individual accolade, in 2018.
“We’re honored to have Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman’s name on our car this weekend,” Truex said in a statement. “Learning about his story really hits you about how special he was. He was the first Air Force combat controller to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War and the first Air Force combat controller to earn the Air Force Cross.
“That’s not just an ordinary person doing those things. He was an incredible man. We want everyone to learn about him and the sacrifice he and his family made
for our country. It’s definitely an extra bit of motivation to want to go out there and do all that we can on the track.”
“He put others before himself, always,” John’s mother Terry said of her son.
The event will also feature a midrace moment of silence after the conclusion of Stage 2.
Chapman died on Takur Ghar Mountain in Afghanistan after his helicopter carrying a Navy SEAL team was shot down by an enemy rocket propelled grenade and machine-gun fire. One team member had been flung from the aircraft, The Courant wrote in July 2018 after it was announced he was being awarded the medal, and into the valley below the snow-capped mountains. Chapman, in an effort to rescue the fallen sailor, returned back to the mountain under heavy fire, suffering the injuries that resulted in his death.
“What NASCAR and the entire industry do for the 600 Miles of Remembrance program is really incredible,” Truex added. “It’s a special weekend in so many ways, but getting to learn about the service members that we are honoring and meeting their families makes you really understand and appreciate the sacrifice they have made for our country. This year is obviously different because we won’t be able to have the families at the track, but it doesn’t change the significance of what these men and women have done to protect our freedom.”
This isn’t the first time Chapman was honored at the Coca-Cola 600. Just two months after his death, Chapman’s widow presented Mark Martin — who had been Chapman’s favorite driver — with her husband’s Combat Control Team coin prior to the race. Martin went on to win the event, his first victory in several years.
Her son has been recognized so many times over the last 18 years, Terry said, that she feels it’s okay for other fallen servicemen and women to be honored at this point. She knows how special it is to their families to have their sons or daughters remembered and wants to make sure as many as possible can experience that.
Of course, whenever someone does choose to commemorate John, it’s still a meaningful gesture. Terry said she’ll probably tune in this weekend to get a glimpse of her son’s name on Truex’s window and see how he fares.
“I’ll be cheering for No. 19,” Terry said.