Recognizing the Life and Service of Lieutenant Colonel Harlan Chapman

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and service of Lieutenant Colonel Harlan Chapman, USMC, who recently passed away at the age of 89. Lieutenant Colonel Chapman was a committed husband, father, veteran, and the Marine Corps' longest held POW of the Vietnam War.

Chapman was born in 1934 in Elyria, Ohio. In June 1956, he commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps through Miami University's Navy ROTC program. Chapman served for over a decade before deploying to North Vietnam where he flew a Vought F8 Crusader off the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany.

During a fateful mission in Vietnam on November 5, 1965, Chapman's strike group was tasked with hitting a railroad and highway bridge deep behind enemy territory. Piloting the last plane of the strike group, Chapman skillfully and successfully delivered his payload to the target. Hit by anti-aircraft fire, he was forced to eject and was soon captured. Chapman spent 2,657 days--over seven years--as a prisoner of war in the notorious so-called `Hanoi Hilton' and other North Vietnamese camps where Chapman and other American prisoners endured ongoing torture, interrogation, and isolation.

On February 12, 1973, during Operation Homecoming, Chapman was the first Marine Corps POW of the Vietnam War to be released. Upon his return to the United States, Chapman continued to serve our country and assumed command of Marine Fighter/Attack Squadron 314 in El Toro, California, until his retirement in 1974.

Mr. Speaker, Lieutenant Colonel Chapman was an American hero in the truest sense of the word. His story and service illustrate the indomitable American spirit in the face of great adversity. On behalf of Ohio's Fifth District, I want to thank Lieutenant Colonel Chapman for his service to our great Nation. May he rest in peace.

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