The First Medal of Honor Ever Recorded

Chapman a US air force combat controller and the seals are attempting to rescue their lost teammate you'll watch Chapman's heroic actions as he saves the lives of his entire SEAL team and then another 18 members of a Quick Reaction Force earning America's highest award the Medal of Honor Chapman and the seals exfilled are mh-47 helicopter John is the second individual to exit and immediately moves in the direction of the summit he can be seen moving off to the right of the screen alone the team is taking heavy fire from every direction as indicated by the arrows as Chapman begins engaging targets you can see spent cartridges ejecting from his m4 Chapman then begins closing with the enemy forcing his way upslope in knee and thigh deep snow he is constantly under fire as he does this Chapman's Team Leader begins to close on Chapman following his trail through the snow the dark mass above Chapman is a fortified bunker containing two enemy fighters each armed with ak-47s who are firing down on the team in the darkness this bunker will come to be known as bunker number one to the left of the tree and bunker one is another gray mass this is a rock outcropping that came to be called the boulder between bunker 1 and this Boulder can be seen the body of slain seal Neil Roberts the man Chapman and the others are attempting to recover [Music] Chapman still alone and closest to the enemy pauses to engage targets as his team leader follows him but never actually catches up with him [Music] Chapman on his own now makes the decision to charge directly into the enemy bunker despite withering point-blank fire Chapman now literally on top of the enemy engages the two combatants and kills them saving the lives of the remaining seals he does this from a distance of no more than ten feet these actions by themselves earned him his first Medal of Honor he then climbs into and takes control of the bunker having cleared the immediate threat Chapman is then joined by his team leader in bunker one you can then see Chapman and his team leader engaging the next bunker known as bunker - which is situated to the left edge of the screen this bunker manned by a handful of Chechen and Uzbek fighters also contains a heavy PKM machine gun hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades John Chapman is shot twice at this time in the torso and collapses incapacitated you are now looking at a new angle and at the left of the screen can be seen the two and fireteam and team leader on top of the boulder just below it is bunker one with the mortally wounded chapman one seal can be seen firing his modified m60 machine gun from the hip into bunker two on the right side of the screen until he is struck by grenade shrapnel and tumbles 10 feet off the top of the boulder collapsing at the feet of his team leader thus setting off a chain of events that would lead to the seals abandoning Chapman on the summit the wounded seal and the team leader can be seen conferring about his injuries moments later the seals decide to retreat from the summit because their position is untenable in the face of continued massive enemy firepower they can be seen moving toward the right side of the screen and passing the body of Neil Roberts unfortunately the seals do not pass John Chapman who is above them an inside bunker one [Music] this angle shows three seals in a triangle the larger black heat signature is a smoke grenade just to its left as a donkey and dead al-qaeda fighter killed by Chapman the steepness of the mountain can be seen as the seals begin to slide down the near shear face [Music] the team leader desperate for relief and now with two wounded teammates asks for uncontrolled airstrikes from an orbiting airforce ac-130 gunship the impacts you see are from 105 millimeter howitzer rounds being fired onto the ridge top in order to save the remaining seals because neither the seals nor gunship know Chapman is alive he is experiencing these detonations from his position at approximately 5:20 in the morning Chapman recovers and begins to engage the enemy bunker one is on the right side center of the screen and bunker two to the left near the screen Center it will never be known what caused his incapacitation and recovery of the two rounds that originally wounded him at least one was mortal and at this time he is experiencing severe blood loss and shock despite that he begins his one-man stand against two dozen enemy combatants during this time Chapman initiates a series of radio calls many of which are heard by a fellow combat controller and teammate of his and Delta Force operators on a nearby summit despite this combat controllers replies Chapman never acknowledges weather because of damage to his equipment or himself will never be known this new angle and footage shows Chapman at the top identified by the green dot under the tree at bunker one the lower center of the screen shows the first enemy fighter who is about to charge Chapman in the hopes of killing the American the timestamp at the bottom shows it is now 6:05 in the morning and fully light he's been fighting alone now for 40-plus minutes and has received more gunshot and shrapnel wounds as a result of the fierce combat this scene shows the second of several enemy charges in this stunning display of determination and courage Chapman can be seen fighting hand-to-hand with the fighter in the larger screen display can be seen additional enemy moving on to the summit but right now John Chapman is fighting for his life six minutes later in this new shot Chapman can hear another helicopter approaching the summit he is in the bottom center of the screen underneath the tree and can be seen in the magnified inset box as he begins his desperate final stand to save the lives of the 18 men on the helicopter the red dots are enemy fighters John begins engaging the enemy in multiple directions and is rapidly approaching the last of his ammunition the helicopter contains a quick reaction force comprised of Rangers pararescueman and another combat controller it is now 613 and the helicopter is short final the enemy is desperately trying to displace Chapman so they can put heavy weapons or rocket-propelled grenades in bunker one while simultaneously engaging the helicopter with the choice to save his life or the lives of his unknown comrades Chapman makes the decision to climb out of the bunker and begin firing in multiple directions as can be seen in the inset suffering from as many as a dozen wounds Chapman is in fact already in the process of dying as he fights the helicopter is struck by a rocket-propelled grenade and makes a remarkable controlled crash just below Chapman and the summit Chapman now off-screen continues to cover his comrades as they pour out of the stricken helicopter some of them are fatally shot as they exited these images with Chapman fighting the enemy at close quarter are the last to show him alive and in this heroic act thus qualifying for his second Medal of Honor ultimately Chapman would expend all but the last few rounds of his ammunition until finally after sixteen bullet and shrapnel wounds Chapman succumbs when he is shot through the heart we will never know his final thoughts or words but what we do know is his decisions and actions single-handedly saved the lives of 23 comrades for more information about John Chapman's amazing story and the details about this mission visit dan shilling books calm or your favorite book retailer to obtain a copy of the chronicle of his life alone at Don

Channel: Dan Schilling Books

Views: 8,005,573

Rating: 4.9038649 out of 5

Keywords: John Chapman, SEAL Team Six, SEAL Team 6, Medal of Honor, First Ever, Takur Ghar, Afghanistan, MAKO 30, Dan Schilling, Dano, Schilling, Dan Schilling Books, predator drone, drone footage, air force, combat control, combat controller, no man left behind, zachary spilinek, united states military, us military

Id: 3oKMjTqdTYo

Length: 8min 51sec (531 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 26 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/TheJucheisLoose]

The video is slightly wrong about one point. Sgt. Chapman did not receive two medals of honor. Instead, he was first awarded the Air Force Cross. There was a significant controversy surrounding this, as it has been alleged that the SEALs and Naval Warfare Command (Chapman was not a SEAL or a sailor/marine, he was an airman) attempted to block him from receiving the MoH, as the MoH narrative would imply that the SEALs retreated and left Chapman behind while he was still alive -- something which violates their code. However, the Secretary of the Air Force successfully lobbied for an upgrade to the MoH. Therefore, he didn't win two Medals of Honor, but rather one Air Force Cross and one MoH (upgraded 14 years after the fact). This incident has caused not insignificant friction between the Air Force and Navy/Marines since.

[u/link_nukem28]

man...that hand-to-hand combat shit while mortally wounded...I can't imagine that kind of primal fear

[u/AetherAce]

Note there was a big rift between the Air Force and Navy after this because the SEALs received a MoH but the Air Force argued that the SEALs left Chapman behind and he didnt receive his MoH until much later.

[u/the_twilight_bard]

Two things come to mind. First, I can't imagine being in any position in that battle. On the screen it looks so clear-- you see where the enemies are, you're told where your guys are. But to be out there in the freezing cold in darkness, how the hell do you even know who you're shooting at? I can't imagine the disorientation...

Second: anytime I see someone running into gunfire, it's absolutely insane. It goes against every instinct. When he charged the bunker early on, I couldn't fathom it.

Maybe too conditioned from watching movies, but when that helicopter arrived I was thinking yes, someone is coming to exfiltrate him. = (

[u/Funkula]

I'm don't mean to be disrespectful here, but what exactly is accomplished by all this?

A seal gets killed, so they send another group in, some of them get killed, and then they send another group in and some of them get killed.

Whatever is on top of that mountain better be worth it.

[u/RJPatrick]

What a fucking mess of an operation.

Classic move to try and throw out awards to mask how bad of a cock-up it was.

[u/MadeInUruguay]

1. I'm by no means a strategy expert.
2. I still think what these men did is astronomically brave.
3. I understand the "no man left behind" honor code.

However

1. Why didn't the Chapman team retreat down to a safer position after finding out there were 2 bunkers there?
2. Why didn't an airstrike or something "from a distance" was not called instead of risking 30ish lives to retrieve the man KIA?
3. Aren't there, nowadays, safer ways of clearing out a zone other than with troops?

I thank in advance whoever helps me understand this better.

[u/[deleted]]

The 2010 video game Medal of Honor features missions based on this and Operation Anaconda in general.

[u/JonesMcGobes]

Why did Chapman kill a donkey?