[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 80 (Thursday, May 11, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1618-S1620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



            Tribute to Sergeant First Class Andrew Chapoton

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I thank the Presiding Officer for that 
heartfelt welcome here on the Senate floor.
  I know the Presiding Officer is excited, and I know the pages are 
excited. Heck, half of America is excited because, once again, it is 
Thursday afternoon, and I am back on the floor giving probably my 
favorite speech of the week, the ``Alaskan of the Week.'' As many of 
you know, it is an opportunity for me as I love to come down to the 
Senate floor and brag about somebody in my State who makes it such a 
great State. Usually, it is somebody who is doing something good for 
their local community, maybe for the State, maybe for the country, 
maybe for the world.
  Boy, we have had so many famous Alaskans of the Week, but this one--

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this one, my colleagues--is really special. It is about real special 
heroism that we see in Alaska a lot. It is about a young man named 
Andrew Chapoton. I am going to talk a lot about Andrew--he is an Army 
soldier up in Alaska--and how his bravery and heroism saved some lives 
in a way that is just remarkable. But I always like to begin my speech 
by talking a little bit about what is going on in Alaska.
  I try to get home with Julie, my wife.
  Hi, Julie.
  She is up in the Gallery. Am I allowed to do that? I am doing it 
anyway.
  Anyway, pretty much every weekend we have been home. Boy, over the 
last couple of weekends, I was out on an epic--epic--Kodiak hunting 
trip. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to partake in one of our 
State's most cherished traditions. It was an experience I won't forget. 
I will never forget it.
  Kristin Wilson, if you are watching, I know you love bears, and I 
love bears too. She is a big fan of the ``Alaskan of the Week.''
  But I also like to talk about what is going on with the weather.
  It is still pretty cold in a lot of places, but the Sun is higher in 
the sky. It is actually getting really high. The days are getting 
longer and longer. Today, in Anchorage, the Sun rose at 5:30 a.m., and 
it will set tonight at around 10:30 p.m., gaining more than 5 minutes 
since yesterday. So sunlight is really increasing rapidly. Birds are 
migrating by the tens of thousands. The excitement of spring is in the 
air. Winter is finally retreating. We love winter in Alaska, but, boy, 
we had a long, cold winter in most places.
  So, if you are watching, by the way, in the Gallery or on TV, come up 
to Alaska. It will be the trip of a lifetime. I guarantee you it will 
be the trip of a lifetime.
  Now let's get to our Alaskan of the Week, SFC Andrew Chapoton, and 
the heroic actions he took last May--about a year ago--that earned him 
the U.S. Army Soldier's Medal. That is the highest honor a soldier can 
receive for an act of heroism in a noncombat situation.
  Andrew was born and raised in the township of Clinton, MI, but he 
knew that he was always going to join the military. Being in the 
military, from his perspective and his family's perspective, was a 
good, honorable thing to do. Of course, he is right. His father fought 
in Vietnam, and his grandfather fought in World War II. Both of his 
sisters are in the Army. So he enlisted when he got out of high school 
and did a number of deployments--three tours to Iraq, a deployment to 
Haiti--and then was stationed in Alaska from 2015 to 2018 as part of 
the 4th Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. It is what we call in 
Alaska the 4-25. I am a marine, but the 4-25 sure is one of my favorite 
units in the entire U.S. military, but that is a story for another day. 
I love the 4-25.
  Andrew and his wife love Alaska--the hiking, the camping.
  He said:

       Everything [is] available right outside my front door.

  So they were determined to come back to Alaska. They bought a house 
in beautiful Eagle River, outside of Anchorage. They did come back. In 
2021, he came back to Alaska where we now have the storied U.S. 11th 
Airborne Division. A lot of people don't know that. We stood up an 
airborne division in Alaska just last year, so now we have the 82nd 
Airborne Division on the east coast and the 11th Airborne Division in 
Alaska. Andrew and his wife, now with two children and another one on 
the way, love Alaska.
  So what did Andrew do to win the Army Soldier's Medal? Here is how 
the Army described it in the summary of that medal:

       Sergeant First Class Andrew Chapoton voluntarily risked his 
     own life in the heroic pursuit of saving others at a deadly 
     car wreck near Seward, Alaska. His extraordinary act of valor 
     exemplified the highest standards of selfless service and 
     character as he repeatedly put himself in mortal danger to 
     save others trapped in a horrific . . . car wreck. SFC 
     Chapoton dived into the burning vehicles again and again to 
     save three trapped occupants, without [any] regard for his 
     own life [or his own safety].

  So that is the summary.
  Here is the longer version of why this great American, great Alaskan, 
is today's Alaskan of the Week.
  Last May, Andrew and his wife had an out-of-town visitor who wanted 
to go whale watching. OK. That is something we do in Alaska. It is 
amazing. It is a great thing to do in our State. So one of the great 
places to whale watch is out of Seward, which is a few hours south of 
Anchorage. He almost didn't go as he had done that tour often, but in 
his words, he caved and said: Let's go do it.
  So they all went. Their friend, his spouse, and their two kids got in 
the car and headed to Seward. They had a great time. By the way, it is 
another great thing to do in Alaska--whale watching. They saw a lot of 
whales, and they were celebrating the trip on the way back.
  Then something tragic--horrible--happened. On the Seward Highway, two 
cars collided--a Jeep and a Dodge Dakota--almost right in front of his 
car. He had to swerve to miss them. It was a nasty, horrible crash. 
Debris went flying; smoke was billowing from both cars; and gasoline 
was dripping out of these cars. But Andrew didn't continue to drive. He 
pulled over on the shoulder, jumped out of his car, and without 
thinking, in his words, ``as cliche and corny as it sounds, 18 years of 
training kicked in, and I ran toward the scene of the accident.'' That 
is what Andrew said. As a result, he saved the lives literally of three 
people.
  Now, he doesn't even have a memory of how he got from his car to the 
accident--training, bravery, heroism--but he does remember approaching 
the first car, the Dakota. He was flagging people down and yelling for 
a medic. There were three people in the Dakota, but none of them were 
moving, and the car was bursting into flames. He tried to smash the 
driver's door open. He had to move the camping equipment that had 
fallen on the driver, and he was able to get her safely out of the car.
  At this point, the car was engulfed in flames, but he went back in 
and got another person out of the car and to safety, which was so 
difficult because the car door had been smashed and crushed. 
Unfortunately--and we know this is hard for Andrew. I hope he is 
watching, by the way, and his family--he went back again but could not 
save the third person. The door was also crushed, and he couldn't open 
it. He couldn't find a pulse. He says it haunts him to this day.
  But, again, Andrew's instincts and training kicked in, and he 
transitioned to getting the driver out of the other burning car, the 
burning Jeep. After he got that passenger out, he performed Combat 
Lifesaver triage and lifesaving medical care for these three very 
seriously wounded Americans.
  This story of heroism doesn't end there.
  Both cars, by now, had turned into raging infernos. Flaming liquid 
was flowing down the road and toward one of the injured passengers. 
With the help of another Good Samaritan, Andrew moved one of the 
gravely injured passengers away from the impending explosion of this 
car. Then he shielded her body when the car did explode. Debris and 
shrapnel were flying everywhere. Even after the fire department 
arrived, Andrew continued to take the lead in performing lifesaving 
medical treatment.
  Eventually, a Life Flight helicopter arrived to take the seriously 
injured individuals to the hospital. Andrew stayed and gave his 
statement to the troopers. He handed his keys to his wife, got back in 
his car, and drove back home several miles--a couple of hours--to 
Anchorage. It was a quiet ride.
  He said:

       I used up every single ounce of adrenalin that was in my 
     38-year-old body.
  His children saw much of what happened, and they are proud of their 
father, and Andrew is proud and so deserving to receive the Army 
Soldier's Medal. But he did say he would trade that in a thousand times 
over if only all the passengers had survived.
  These are the kind of people who live in Alaska--brave, selfless, and 
heroic. And these are the kind of people--by the way, America--who make 
up our military. Not every American citizen would have done what Andrew 
just did. As a matter of fact, I would say most people probably 
wouldn't--people who risk their lives, their own lives, whether it is 
protecting Americans at home or people abroad, so that others could 
live. That is what our military members do.

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  This is how the Army summed up this heroic action:

       SFC Chapoton's ability to perform these heroic acts under 
     extreme pressure while simultaneously taking control of the 
     scene [of this horrific crash] is a testament to his [U.S.] 
     Army values. [Fundamentally] understanding the extreme 
     personal risk to his own life, SFC Chapoton selflessly 
     endangered himself again and again to save American lives. He 
     risked his own safety to help avert a catastrophic outcome. 
     Without his selfless courage in the face of grave danger, 
     more lives would have been lost.

  So thank you, Andrew, for your bravery, your heroism, your example, 
not just to your friends and family or to Alaskans but to all Americans 
and all veterans. Thank you for protecting our Nation. Thank you for 
volunteering to serve. Thank you for making your home in Alaska. Thank 
you for your heroic actions on that day. We want to congratulate you 
for being awarded the U.S. Army Soldier's Medal, one of the highest 
honors a soldier can achieve and, certainly, Andrew, one of the highest 
honors you can achieve in the U.S. Senate: being our Alaskan of the 
Week. Great job.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.