An Air Force service member killed during a 2002 firefight between a U.S. special ops team and Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan will be awarded the Medal of Honor, according to a new report.
Tech. Sgt. John Chapman, the radioman for the SEAL Team 6 reconnaissance unit involved in the March 4, 2002, firefight, would be the first from the Air Force to receive the nation’s highest award for valor since the Vietnam War, Task and Purpose reported Friday.
Chapman, of Windsor Locks, Conn., had been left for dead during the mountaintop battle against the terror group, the news site reported.
But an Air Force analysis of video captured by an overhead Predator drone, suggests that Chapman was not dead but unconscious, The New York Times reported in 2016. The footage suggests that when he came to he continued to defend himself, killing two enemy fighters, including one in hand-to-hand combat, until he was killed. He was 36.
Chapman originally received an Air Force Cross, the second-highest valor award an airman can receive for his heroism during the mountaintop battle against Al Qaeda extremists, Air Force Times reported.
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