[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 11, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL HARLAN CHAPMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT E. LATTA

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 11, 2024

  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.

                          ____________________