'They put others before themselves': Appleton Boy Scouts given Heroism Award for actions during train crash

Sophia Voight, Appleton Post-Crescent
·2 min read

GREEN BAY - The 22 Boy Scouts and troop leaders who took charge to help those injured in a train derailment in June were given the Heroism Award for their actions Tuesday night.

"They put others before themselves and we're all proud of these boys," said assistant scoutmaster Matt Schultz, who was awarded for his action in the train derailment.

The Appleton Boy Scouts were celebrated for their heroism during the Boy Scouts of America Bay-Lakes Council's annual Golden Eagle Event held at Lambeau Field.

During the award ceremony Schultz told the crowd the boys' actions in June exemplified a troop leader's motto of "train them, trust them, let them lead."

"In that moment of the train crash, it didn't take long for every single (troop) leader on board to trust our boys," he said.

In June, the 15 Appleton-based Boy Scouts and seven troop leaders from Troops 12 and 73 were aboard an Amtrak train when it crashed and derailed in rural Missouri.

Eighteen hours into a train ride home from a scouting trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico their train hit a dump truck on the tracks at a public crossing in Mendon.

Prepared with how to administer first aid, the Boy Scouts sprawled out and helped injured passengers once they gathered their footing after the derailment.

Scouts Logan Poelzer and Eli Schultz helped people escape through emergency windows and scout Eli Skrypczak tended to the driver of the dump truck that collided with the train before he ultimately died from the crash.

Most of the Boy Scouts escaped serious injury. Two troop leaders and at least one boy have had to have surgery for injuries, including broken ribs, a punctured lung, shattered vertebrae and a torn biceps.

Following the crash, the story of the heroic Boy Scouts from Appleton circulated in the media, gaining local and national coverage.

Dean Seaborn from Troop 73 said it felt good to be given the Heroism Award but said he was just doing what he needed to during the train crash.

"I don't really feel like a hero," he told The Post-Crescent. "I was doing what everyone else was and helping out."

Sophia Voight can be reached at svoight@postcrescent.com. Follow her on Twitter @sophia_voight.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton Boy Scouts on Amtrak derailment given Heroism Award