Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin and retired Navy SEAL, says he will never forget what he witnessed on Interstate 35 in rural Iowa last weekend. While driving near Osceola with his wife, Sarah, Van Orden saw a Dodge Grand minivan veer off the road at high speed and violently crash. “I’m watching a Dodge Grand minivan disintegrate,” he recalled.

Van Orden immediately pulled over and sprinted to the wreckage. He found an 11-year-old boy with severe injuries, including a torn leg and an arterial bleed in his wrist. Reacting quickly, Van Orden retrieved socks from his truck to create makeshift tourniquets. Other Good Samaritans also jumped in—one man used a windshield wiper as a splint, and a woman identifying as a medic helped apply a tourniquet.

Despite the chaos, the group worked together to stabilize the boy until emergency services arrived. “He would’ve bled to death. He would’ve been gone,” Van Orden said, emphasizing the importance of their swift action.

The congressman later visited the boy at a hospital in Des Moines, where he is expected to recover. Van Orden reflected on the event as a powerful reminder of everyday American heroism and the goodness of strangers willing to help in a crisis.

The crash occurred on the second anniversary of Van Orden’s daughter’s death. On social media, he wrote, “God works in mysterious ways. I am so thankful to have been able to make sure this young man’s father did not join the one club you never want to be in.”