A Springfield-born Air Force sergeant who was killed trying to save a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan in 2002 was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor yesterday.
President Trump presented the nation’s highest military honor to Valerie Nessel, the widow of fallen U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, at the White House, commending his bravery and “final act of supreme courage,” in helping save more than 20 American service members.
“I was totally blown away by how many lives he affected, to the good,” Chapman’s mother, Terry Giaccone told the Hartford Courant. “As a person, his whole life he was a Medal of Honor winner. He said he always put others before himself.”
Chapman was born in Springfield, but graduated from Windsor Locks High School in Windsor Locks, Conn.
“John Chapman is a hero to everybody,” Michelle Hill, a Windsor Locks selectman and a former Marine, told the Herald yesterday. Hill said the award “means a lot” to the town, which is planning to hold a celebration of Chapman’s heroism sometime this fall.
“Being a Marine myself, it’s hard to put into words. It means so much for his family, for Windsor Locks, for everyone,” Hill said.
In March 2002, Chapman was carrying out a mission to establish an observation post atop Takur Ghar mountain in Afghanistan, when the helicopter carrying him and other joint special operations teammates came under heavy machine-gun fire and was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts fell from the helicopter and was left vulnerable to enemy territory when Chapman and the rest of the operations team crash-landed nearby before boarding a second aircraft to go back and save Roberts.
Chapman was killed while fighting to get to Roberts through back-and-forth fire.
“He really fought. We have proof of the fight,” Trump said at the ceremony.
Seven members of the Navy, Air Force and Army — including Chapman and Roberts — were killed at Takur Ghar that day.
Nessel dismissed allegations that her husband was left behind by the Navy SEALs, telling reporters before yesterday’s ceremony that: “Each of those men were doing what they were trained to do. You’re at 10,000 foot, in waist-deep snow. You can’t Monday-morning quarterback anything. Each of those men are heroes. They are.”