AEDC team member reflects on assistance she and husband provided to injured children

  • Published
  • By Bradley Hicks
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  Brad and Sarah Klein woke up on the morning of March 30 with a plan.

“Our goal was to get his promotion, he would meet with a few people, and then we would continue on to Smyrna,” said Sarah, a security specialist with the Space and Missiles Combined Test Force at Arnold Air Force Base. “There, he would get onto a cargo plane and head out to Fort Hood.”

But when fate intervened, the Kleins would put others – in this case, a group of children injured in a car wreck – above their own plans.

The Kleins were on their way to Murfreesboro for Brad’s promotion ceremony that morning. He serves with the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment Support Squadron of the Tennessee Army National Guard and was being promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 2.

Sarah described March 30 as a “crazy, crazy day.” At around 6:15 a.m., the Kleins were traveling westbound on Interstate 24 when they observed a Honda Pilot in front of them cross all lanes of traffic and veer off the roadway into the grass. Sarah said it appeared the vehicle hit some type of obstacle and went airborne, flipping end over end before the heavily-damaged vehicle finally came to rest.

The Kleins immediately pulled over to check on those involved in the wreck. They discovered that the vehicle contained seven children and no adults.

The driver of the Pilot and the front-seat passenger were able to exit the car under their own power. Brad began pulling the remaining, more seriously-injured children from the crashed vehicle while Sarah called 911.

“Brad and I work extremely well together in emergency situations, and that may be because we have a combined total of six teenagers. But, at some point, when things calmed down a little bit, I kept thinking about our kids and about whether anyone would stop for them,” Sarah said. “Children don’t know what to do in these kinds of situations. They wanted to call their parents first. They didn’t even think to call 911.”

According to Sarah, it appeared some of the passengers had not been wearing seat belts. At least one of the children was unconscious. Another needed to be immobilized due to a back injury. Several had suffered facial injuries.

Sarah said the most “heartbreaking” part of the experience was that she and her husband were the only motorist to pull over and offer assist to those involved in the wreck.

As Brad removed the passengers from the wrecked vehicle, Sarah administered first aid.

“My husband is the ultimate prepper, so we had everything from fire extinguishers to several military first aid kits to civilian first aid kits,” Sarah said. “We had gloves; we had tourniquets; we had bandages.

“I’ve never been more happy to have my trunk stuffed with this stuff than right now.”

Sarah also spoke with the parents of the children, all of whom were in Clarksville at the time of the wreck. She did a “lot of holding and rocking” in an attempt to comfort those injured and keep the children calm.

“We just tried to be there for each one of them because we weren’t sure that they were all going to make it,” she said.

Sarah added it was just as important for her and her husband to maintain their calm.

“It was just super important to not freak out because we knew, for the ones that were conscious, if we freaked out, they were going to freak out,” she said. “It was just about remaining calm and trying to do for them what I would want somebody to do for my kid, because if I thought my child was taking her last breath, I would want someone to hold her and sit with her on the side of the road and tell her everything is going to be OK. That’s all I knew to do at the end was hold them and tell them exactly what I would want to be said to my kids.”

Three of the injured children were flown from the scene by LifeFlight helicopters. The others were transported via ambulance to the nearby emergency room. The Kleins remained on the scene until the last child was transported.
Sarah provided her contact information to some of the children in case they needed someone to be with them at the hospital.

“I did leave the kids my phone number because I thought if the parents don’t make it after I drop Brad off in Smyrna, I can bring them food or sit with them,” she said.

The promotion ceremony was set to begin at 7 a.m., but Brad had contacted someone in his chain of command to make them aware he and his wife would be late.

“Typically, you’re supposed to be spotless for your promotion ceremony,” Sarah said. “We stopped in the bathroom and we tried to wash up as best we could, but he had blood all over his uniform. The interesting thing about that is blood on those particular Army uniforms fades to the exact same color as the rest of the uniform. He had mud on his boots; I had mud on my boots. We were a complete mess.”

Still, Brad got to take part in the promotion ceremony as planned.

“We were let in quietly where we listened to the rest of the speakers,” Sarah said. “After a time, they explained why Chief Klein and his wife were late. He then received his promotion and I pinned him.”

Around an hour later, Brad was in Smyrna to board his plane and depart for Fort Hood to help train soldiers in the 278th deploying to Poland.
Word of the Kleins’ act did not escape those at Fort Hood, thanks in large part to a post made by the Tennessee National Guard to its Facebook page in the days following the wreck. That post has since been viewed by thousands of people.

“During his time at Fort Hood, he received several moments of recognition for his efforts during the crash,” Sarah said.

Sarah said she has been in contact with the children involved in the wreck. The two older children were able to attend their proms. One continues to recover from several surgeries. One remains bedbound but is also recovering. Another has since awoken from his coma.

All are expected to make a full recovery, according to Sarah.

Sarah said she and her husband intend to travel to Clarksville soon to have dinner with the children they helped.

As for their actions on the morning of March 30, Sarah said she and husband did what she would expect most anyone else to do when faced with a similar situation.

“We feel like our actions weren’t different from anything anyone else would have done in that same situation,” she said. “It just so happened that morning we were the ones who stopped.”