Wisconsin Guard member a hero in Montana train derailment

Wisconsin Army National Guard 1st Lt. Ben Chulawan, a project manager at Exact Sciences in Madison, was recently awarded the Soldier’s Medal for helping fellow passengers after a 2021 train derailment in Montana. He said he usually carries a first-aid kit with him, even when taking a leisurely cross-country train trip to Seattle.

Ben Chulawan wasn't able to fulfill his dream of a cross-country train trip, but he provided crucial help to victims when that train derailed two years ago and last month was awarded a medal for his efforts.

Chulawan, 26, a first lieutenant with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, was awarded the Soldier's Medal for helping fellow passengers aboard Amtrak's Empire Builder on Sept. 21, 2021, after it derailed while making its way westbound through Montana.

Three passengers were killed and 49 were injured in the derailment near Joplin, Montana, located in the north-central part of the state. Investigators later blamed the crash on track defects.

Chulawan has lived in the Madison area for the past three years, since he took a job at Exact Sciences after having been an intern there. He said he fell in love with the area and decided to move here.

A native of Orlando, Florida, Chulawan is the son of Thai immigrants who both work in Orlando's burgeoning hospitality industry. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in industrial engineering and is now a project manager in Exact Sciences' research and development group.

The Soldier's Medal is given to Army personnel who distinguish themselves by heroism not involving combat. This one was awarded last month to Ben Chulawan for helping fellow Amtrak passengers during a 2021 derailment in Montana.

In the Guard, Chulawan is the executive officer with the 829th Engineer Vertical Construction Company, based in the northern Wisconsin city of Spooner. For monthly training weekends, that's a long drive that Chulawan says he gets through with the help of audiobooks.

The Soldier's Medal is awarded to Army personnel who distinguish themselves through heroism not involving conflict with an enemy. Chulawan received the award July 9 at a ceremony in Spooner.

How did you get involved in the Guard?

I did ROTC for 4½ years of college back at the University of Florida. And so I'd always wanted to join the military in some capacity. When I went to college, I decided that I wanted to go into the Army. I earned my commission in ROTC and became an officer. So when I got that commission and when I graduated, when I came to Wisconsin, I joined the Wisconsin Army National Guard.

Where were you headed on the train?

The story goes that I've always wanted to take a cross-country train ride. That's been a dream of mine. One day I woke up midweek and I just had this desire, like I really want to take that train ride now for some reason. And so I chose to go from Wisconsin to Seattle, so it should be like a 48-hour train ride. Twenty-four hours in or so, the train derailed in Montana.

Were you asleep at the time of the derailment?

Not quite. We were actually about to get to Glacier National Park, so I was half asleep, half awake, thinking about going back to the observation car right behind me. And that's when the train started shifting left and right, started bucking like turbulence on a plane. At first, I was just like, this is really heavy. What's going on? And then eventually it got really, really bad and the train came off the tracks. The observation car behind us was being dragged by the front half of the train, and was completely on its side, so it must have been a minute of absolute hell.

What did you do at that point?

I probably spent a solid minute, two minutes in disbelief. I remember I walked to the side of the observation car and I saw, actually, people who had passed away in the incident. It was like, "Oh my God, this is really that bad." So I ran back inside the train car, I grabbed my bag, which has a first-aid kit inside of it. I've just always carried a first-aid kit since I'm certified. And at that point, part of my military training kind of kicked in.

Were there others on board who had medical training and were assisting?

There were multiple other people who were either prior military and one other service member who was in the Guard as well based out of California. There was one other first-aid responder with me. We were a tag team for a time. We came up to one really badly injured person (with a severe head injury). That was really, really frightening. So we both came up to him and did what we could for him. And at that point, first responders started arriving, so I was able to direct EMS to who was the most urgent of the casualties and started directing people who looked injured over to the ambulances. So that was my role for maybe the next 10 minutes.

How long did it take for rescue teams to actually get there?

I want to say it was closer to, like, 15 minutes. The crazy story is that Joplin has actually had a train derailment there before, like decades ago. It's a small town. They actually trained the community response plan through an incident like that within two or three weeks prior to the incident. And so they were on scene incredibly fast. I'm sure I would credit that to why there weren't any more casualties after those initial events. They were really quick.

So did you end up having to just turn around and go home? Or were you able to finish the trip?

They were like, do you want to go to Seattle or do you want to go back home? At that point, I wasn't in the best state of mind. I was like, all right, what should I do here? Should I go back home to Florida to see my parents? Is something else unforeseen going to happen on my trip? Or should I go back to Madison? To me, Seattle is off the books now. I've had enough. So I was like, you know what, I'll leave it to a coin. Heads, I go back to Florida, see my parents. Tails, I go to Madison. And four out of four times it came up Florida.

Have you been able to get that trip in since then?

I probably would not recreate that train ride. But in another funny story of fate, my family and I were traveling to Thailand to see my extended family and during the plane ride, there was a minor medical emergency on the plane. So midway in the flight over to Japan, they called a medical emergency and they turned around and stopped in Seattle. So I ended up in Seattle one way or another. I was like, all right, this is just a cruel joke.

University of Wisconsin sophomore guard Connor Essegian shares insight on his time playing with the Armenian national team this summer.

"The story goes that I've always wanted to take a cross-country train ride. That's been a dream of mine. One day I woke up midweek and I just had this desire, like I really want to take that train ride now for some reason."

Ben Chulawan

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