Trump awards Medal of Honor to late airman
Sergeant killed during a rescue in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor to an Air Force sergeant who died trying to save a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan.
Trump presented the medal to Valerie Nessel, widow of Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, a native of Windsor Locks, Conn., at the White House.
He commended Chapman for his bravery and for having helped save more than 20 American service members.
Chapman’s helicopter came under heavy fire in Afghanistan in March 2002, throwing Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts onto enemy-infested Takur Ghar mountain. The remaining members of Chapman’s special operations team crash-landed nearby and boarded another aircraft to mount a rescue attempt for Roberts.
Chapman was critically injured by enemy fire, but continued to engage the enemy. He became the first member of the Air Force to be recognized with the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest award for valor in combat —since the Vietnam War.
Navy SEALs fighting alongside Chapman thought he was dead when they were forced down the mountain under a hail of enemy fire, but he was unconscious and awoke to fight militants alone for another hour before he was killed March 4, 2002.
The determination was made after a 30-month investigation. In 2002, Chapman posthumously received the Air Force Cross — second only to the Medal of Honor in his service — for climbing a steep hill under fire in the battle and killing at least two militants inside a bunker on top.
But former Air Force Secretary Deborah James recommended — and Trump approved — an upgrade after an examination of drone video footage and interviews with service members who monitored his final moments by radio and powerful aircraft sensors.