George W. Chapman – Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

August 30, 2007
Courtesy of Caller.Com

Longtime Corpus Christi, Texas, resident George Warfield Floyd Chapman, 92, who was a prisoner of war in the European Theater during World War II, will be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

Chapman, who died in his sleep Sunday, didn’t talk about the year he spent as a prisoner of war, his family said.

“Dad was always quiet about his wartime,” said his son Greg Chapman, 60, a Corpus Christi tax consultant. “But he’s always been my hero, despite being a silent American hero.”

The elder Chapman, who was born in Kentucky, was commissioned first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry in 1942 at Fort Benning, Georgia, after working his way through Eastern Kentucky State University. Chapman left for Europe soon after his marriage to Katherine Carole Coble, his wife of 64 years who died in May. She learned in September 1944 that he had been reported missing in action since May of that year.

Chapman, who was wounded and captured by the German Army during the battle of Anzio, Italy, was held in prison camps in Poland and Germany. He was liberated after the war ended.

For his wartime service he was awarded the Silver Star and two Purple Hearts.

He and Carole moved to Texas in 1950 and lived in Cuero, Yorktown, and El Campo while he worked in production for Continental Oil Company. In 1962 he settled into retirement in Corpus Christi, and by then he had earned a master’s degree at Texas A&I University and retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as Lieutenant Colonel. Burial will be in October.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard