'I just went flying': Appleton scout leader injured in the Amtrak train derailment recounts the horror and heroism of the deadly wreck

MARSHALL, Mo. – “You could hear it ... the train had smashed into something. But it didn’t stop immediately,” Jonathan Awe recounted.

Awe, of Appleton, was one of the 275 passengers on the Amtrak train that derailed Monday near Mendon, Missouri, as it was en route from Los Angeles to Chicago.

He was still hospitalized Thursday morning at Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall, Missouri. Another troop leader, Dr. Sanjay Chopra, is recovering in a different Missouri hospital. The two were among about 150 people taken to 10 hospitals in the area after the train hit a dump truck and derailed. The truck driver and three train passengers died.

A Freedom Elementary School teacher and activities adviser for Boy Scout Troop 73, Awe was in the caboose of the train with other members of the troop — including his two teenage sons — returning from a trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

“I was reading a book, and I looked out the window. You could see debris and grass flying up beside us, just going everywhere,” Awe said.

“We were on the left side of the train. And when it started to roll, I reached down to grab my phone and then I just went flying — slammed into the chairs across the aisle and maybe into the overhead luggage compartment. ... I really don’t know.

"I realized the car had flipped and I thought I had punctured a lung because I couldn’t breathe. When the train stopped, I really couldn’t move. I knew I was hurt, but I didn’t know how bad.”

As he recalled the accident scene while lying in his hospital bed at Fitzgibbon, he raised his hands and motioned above his head. His eyes moved rapidly back and forth as he relived those terrifying moments, realizing that, for a few minutes, he had no idea if his boys had made it through the wreck alive.

“I then could hear my oldest son Elijah and his voice,” said Awe, the tone of his voice rising as he fought back tears from the memory. “And I called out to him and asked him to try to find his brother.”

Younger brother Isaiah, 14, and Elijah, 16, had prepared for two years for the trip to Philmont.

“They were so excited to ride on a train," Awe said. "But after what happened, I don’t know if they’ll ever want to get on one again.”

After the cars came to rest, leaders from the two troops of Appleton Boy Scouts on the trip immediately began triaging other people inside the caboose and trying to calm them, according to Awe. Some were writing passengers’ names and birthdates on their forearms for emergency personnel to see when they arrived.

Awe, who has three fractured vertebrae, must have had a phrase from the Boy Scout Oath in mind immediately after the crash — “to help other people at all times.” Re-assuming his role as the Boy Scout troop’s activities adviser during the trip, he began sending texts to a group of parents, letting them know they had been in a train wreck.

“I kind of drug myself to the back of the train to get out of the way,” he said. "There were lots of people who were a lot worse off.”

Awe said after he was carried out of the caboose on a backboard, he was laid across the rails, and he could see more of the Boy Scout troops helping other people. Again, to ensure the parents in Wisconsin knew their sons were OK, he asked each boy to come to him so he could text their parent or have them call home.

Luckily, according to Marshall physician Jack Uhrig, Awe isn't expected to experience any paralysis and will likely not require surgery for his injuries. Awe plans to see a spine specialist upon his return home and was expected to be discharged in a specially fitted back brace.

Uhrig developed a special “Boy Scout bond” with Awe as he was evaluating him after his admission.

“I was trying to obtain some information and get a feel for what had happened," Uhrig said. "Knowing he had been to Philmont and hiking in the mountains just days before, and now he was in such pain. He’s got something really wrong.

"Having been a scoutmaster myself, even for a very brief time, and having been to Philmont with my own dad, I can relate.”

After the initial evaluation Monday night, Uhrig brought some of his own old Boy Scout badges to Awe the next morning and asked him to share them with troop members as recognition of their courage through the ordeal.

“I’m glad you’re doing well,” said Uhrig, smiling as he reached down to shake Awe’s hand.

After Uhrig suggested that it appeared Awe seemed to always be helping others — even in the midst of the chaos of the disaster — Awe again fought back tears.

“I just know what it was like ... even for those few minutes ... when I didn’t know that my kids were OK. And I just wanted to let all the other parents know,” Awe said. 

Awe was brought to Fitzgibbon Hospital along with another injured passenger in the same ambulance, while his boys were taken with other Scouts to a school in Columbia until arrangements could be made for their trips home.

All members of the Appleton group were either home or on their way, with the exception of Awe and the other troop leader. Awe also wanted to give special thanks to Tonya Ford and Johanna Cox, moms from Troop 6 in Columbia, who provided snacks and drinks for the Appleton troops' journey home.

Asked what he might have learned from the experience, Awe didn’t hesitate to respond.

“Just how amazing people can be. People rise to the challenges ... and how compassionate people can be. People here in this area. People were pulling ladders out of their backyards to help get people out of the train. I’m humbled by the compassion and humanity, because you just don’t see enough of that.”

Awe said the Fitzgibbon doctors and nurses had taken good care of him, and the staff had been kind and accommodating. 

“I’ve got my boys, and we are a bit battered and bruised. But it could’ve been a lot worse,” he said.

He said he could see that his boys and members of the troop had “applied what they learned” as Boy Scouts.

“I know those boys were tired after backpacking at camp. And you don’t get much sleep on the train," Awe said. "But they did their best to apply what they’d learned and to help others in need. It was a pretty beautiful thing to see.”

Amy R. Weber is the manager of business development and government relations at Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall, Missouri, and a former journalist.