Montana Man Describes Amtrak Derailment, Rescue Efforts
Dan Hutchinson hopped on the Amtrak train in Wolf Point and was on the way to visit his granddaughter in a Seattle hospital when the train derailed near Chester, Montana Saturday.
The Navy veteran who spent 16 years on submarines says his training immediately kicked in once the train went off the tracks.
Here's the full audio as Dan joined us on "Montana Talks with Aaron Flint" from Vida, Montana:
Dan said the train was rolling along smoothly, like usual, at first.
Dan Hutchinson: We got just past Joplin there and we hit a little bit of rough track and you could feel the track was was a little rougher than than what we'd been on and then all of a sudden there was a bang, and I could hear gravel, I could feel gravel on the undercarriage of the car...
Also travelling with Dan was his son Joshua, a Marine Corps veteran:
Dan Hutchinson: For me, my training just kicked in, and I just did what I had to do. I didn't intend to take charge. But, you know, that's how you're trained. And so, we just did what we had to do to try to help as many people as we could, but that's what everybody there was doing. I'll tell you the folks that responded from Joplin and that area they deserve a lot of kudos. They were fantastic. We got- after everything was over we got over to the high school gym and those ladies came in with sandwiches and banana bread and zucchini bread and Gatorade and you name it- pizzas. They took good care of us up there. That's fantastic community. It's just goes to show what rural Montana is all about. And, you know, I just can't give those ladies up there- those folks- all of those folks up there in Chester and Joplin enough kudos.
By the way, Dan is the father of one of our Billings radio friends Justin Hutchinson (you may know him as "McLovin.") I gotta give a shout out to a big fundraiser coming up this weekend in Billings for Justin's niece, and Dan's granddaughter, Imogen Rue. This sweet little young lady is in a medical battle of her own and could use your help. This is who Dan was on the train to go see when the train derailed.
If you want to help the family out with medical expenses and take part in a good event for a good cause- there is going to be a "Walk-a-Thon and Pub Crawl" coming up Saturday, October 2nd. Click here for details.
Imogen Hutchinson is a beautiful and happy 1-year-old, born in Bozeman, MT. Her parents, Hannah and Travis, both grew up in Billings...In December 2020, Imogen began showing symptoms that her little body was fighting a battle. Since then, her family, many experts, and doctors have been working around the clock to find a diagnosis.
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