Frederick G. Chapman, Jr.
 

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	%">Sgt. Frederick G. Chapman Jr. Photo taken Tuesday May 16, 2006

 
Frederick "Chip" Chapman was the only son of Frederick G. Chapman and Mary Mattes who moved to America from England. He was born on October 22, 1922 and grew up in Pennsylvania. Chip had four sisters, all younger than himself. He was an avid swimmer and liked to sing and dance. His neice Linda remembers a family story about how Fred came to the aid of his grandmother. She was hanging up wash and had a worn wicker basket. A piece of the basket stabbed her in one of the main arteries in her leg and he tended to her leg til help could be gotten.
 
He enlisted in the army before Pearl Harbor. I have been able to determine that as of 4 October 1941 he was a Private in Company "A", 16th Inf Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. He was wounded in action and awarded his first Purple Heart in North Africa. Although he could have come home at this point he elected to stay with his men. He said "we came over together, we'll go home together".
 

Assault landing one of the first waves at Omaha Beach as photographed by Robert F. Sargent.   The US Coast Gurad caption identifies the unit as Company E, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division.   The view Fred saw would have looked virtually identical to this.

On D-Day he was with Company "A", 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division. He landed on Omaha Beach in the EASY RED section in the first wave. Machine gun and mortar fire on this section of the beach was withering. He was stationed in the rear of the landing craft he came ashore in. His best friend, who was stationed in the front of the boat was killed before he ever got off of the ramp. After wading ashore, Fred made it up onto the beach but was killed approximately 30 minutes later.
 
Of the approximately 73,000 Americans who landed on D-Day (23,250 on UTAH Beach, 34,250 on OMAHA Beach and 15,500 Airborne troops) 6,603 were killed. Fred was one of them.
 
If you served with Fred or can shed any light on his life or death I would like to hear from you; we would like to know a little more about him than the name, rank and serial number that is found on the cross that marks his grave. His grave was picked at random during a trip my son and I made to Normandy in May 2006.
 
We would like to keep his memory alive. Please contact me at:
LINKS:
ABMC video about the Normandy American cemetery
ABMC booklet about the cemetery