An Air Force sergeant who gave his life while trying to rescue a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan was awarded the Medal of Honor on Wednesday by President Donald Trump, who lauded the airman’s “final act of supreme courage.”
Trump presented the nation’s highest military honor to the widow of Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman of Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
The East Room of the White House erupted in an uncharacteristic burst of piercing whistles and hoots after Valerie Nessel accepted the framed medal suspended from a light blue ribbon on behalf of her late husband, and she and her immediate family joined Trump on the dais.
Chapman joined the Air Force in 1985, and Trump said he volunteered to go to Afghanistan soon after deadly terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, the worst ever on U.S. soil. The attacks were planned in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan in March 2002, while carrying out a mission to establish an observation post atop Takur Ghar mountain, the Chinook helicopter carrying Chapman and his joint special operations teammates came under heavy machine-gun fire and was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]The U.S. Air Force has released video from a surveillance aircraft that shows the final heroic moments of Tech Sgt. John Chapman, who will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his bravery later this month from President Trump.
The video was taken on March 4, 2002. “Chapman charged multiple machine-gun nests and engaged in hand-to-hand combat on the 10,000-foot peak known as Takur Ghar in Afghanistan during Operation Anaconda,” Task & Purpose reported on Friday- REDA MORE
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