Two U.S. Army aviators have received the service’s most prestigious non-combat decoration for risking their own lives to triage and provide care for their soldiers in a 2023 Alaska AH-64 Apache helicopter collision.
Capt. Gabriel Coppinger, an aviation officer and commander of Company B, 1st Battalion, 11th Aviation Regiment, out of Fort Rucker, Alabama; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Shane Hawkins, an instructor pilot at Rucker’s 1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment, recently received the Soldier’s Medal, Rucker officials announced this week. Officials noted that only about 300 soldiers currently wear the award.
In remarks delivered at the ceremony, Coppinger spoke of the toll the crash, which claimed the lives of three soldiers, had taken on those who experienced it.
“This day is not just about recognition; it is a symbol of the journey many of us have endured these past two years,” Coppinger said, according to a news release. “It represents the courage, the pain, and the resilience of those who lived through that day and those we will forever carry in our hearts.”
The two Fort Wainwright-based Apaches collided April 27, 2023, about 50 miles east of Healy, Alaska, while returning from a training flight. The aircrew members killed in the crash included Chief Warrant Officer 3 Christopher Robert Eramo, 39, of Oneonta, New York; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kyle D. McKenna, 28, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Warrant Officer 1 Stewart Duane Wayment, 32, of North Logan, Utah.
The two helicopters had been among a group of 14 Apaches returning to base in clear weather conditions following training. A heavily redacted Army investigation released at the end of 2023 found the collision took place about 30 seconds after the formation executed a turn to head for a mountain pass.
“The pilot of one of the Apaches slowed down and lost sight of the other, then tried to increase airspeed and hit the main rotor blades of the other aircraft. Both of the helicopters then crashed into the side of a mountain,” Alaska news station KTOO reported at the time.
The award citations, and Coppinger’s remarks, shed new light on the aftermath of the crashes and how soldiers in the formation responded.
“Six Soldiers flying in three separate aircraft landed without hesitation in the aftermath of the mishap,” Coppinger said, according to the release. “Without regard for their own safety, each of them quite literally ran directly into harm’s way. … If not for their selfless actions, I don’t know that I would be standing before you today.”
He saluted the fallen aviators by name, noting that Wayment had been his co-pilot that day.
“I am honored to have served alongside each of you. Blue skies and tail winds,” he said. “Your memory will forever guide my service.”
Army officials declined to specify which aircraft Coppinger and Hawkins had been in prior to their crash response efforts.
Coppinger and Hawkins, according to their medal citations provided by the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, “put [themselves] back in danger” to provide aid to soldiers following the crash. Coppinger extracted a severely injured soldier from the wreckage of a mishap aircraft and provided immediate medical aid, then “helped coordinate the chaotic scene until air medevac arrived,” according to his citation.
Hawkins, then a chief warrant officer 2, provided aid to three other severely injured soldiers and participated in controlling the chaos until the arrival of a medevac aircraft.
Hawkins’ actions “are in keeping with the finest traditions of military service,” his citation states.
Hope Hodge Seck is an award-winning investigative and enterprise reporter covering the U.S. military and national defense. The former managing editor of Military.com, her work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Politico Magazine, USA Today and Popular Mechanics.
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