Major General Curtis W. Chapman
New London – Major General
Curtis W. Chapman Jr., 91, retired U.S. Army Engineer, died July 20, 2010 at
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Born in
Huntington,
WV to First Lieutenant Curtis and Cecelia
(Lundquist) Chapman, he was a graduate of
West Point, class of 1941.
He subsequently earned degrees in
engineering at California Institute of Technology, and in business
administration at the
University of
Hartford. His first station
after West Point was in
Hawaii, where he commanded a combat engineer
company under fire during the attack on
Pearl Harbor. Subsequent troop commands
included leading an engineer battalion in
New Guinea and the
Philippines (1944), a combat
engineer group in
South Korea (1962),
and command of the 20th Engineer
Brigade in
Vietnam (1967-8).
General Chapman's administrative assignments included teaching at the Engineer
School at Fort Belvoir, VA; research and development on the Army General Staff;
deputy command of the USA Engineer Division, Mediterranean, based in French
Morocco; assignment to the Special Studies Group of the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff; command of the USA Engineer Division, Pacific Ocean, based in
Hawaii; Director of Military Engineering for the Chief of Engineers; deputy
commanding general of Combat Developments Command at Fort Belvoir; and Senior
Army Member of the Secretary of Defense's Weapons Systems Evaluation Group. Over
the course of his career, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal with
cluster, Silver Star, Legion of Merit with two clusters, Bronze Star, Air Medal
with two clusters, and several commendation medals. As a cadet at
West Point, he met Margaret "Terry" Richards
and they became engaged within two weeks. They would have celebrated their 69th
wedding anniversary in September. Upon his retirement from the Army in 1975,
General and Mrs. Chapman lived in
Colorado Springs,
CO, and on
Lake
Sunapee, and traveled extensively
before settling in
New London in 1991. He served as
President of the Lake Sunapee Protective Association from 1979-82, and was a
member of the Lake Sunapee Yacht Club. He participated actively in summer
services at St. James in the Field, Burkehaven. His intelligent pursuit of the
heart of any mission – whether military or civilian, his tireless application to
the job at hand, and his friendly cheerfulness will be long remembered by those
who worked with him. He is survived by his wife, Margaret (Richards) of New
London, daughter Cynthia and her husband Woody Canaday of Cos Cob, CT and New
London, NH, son Bruce and his wife Jaci Chapman of Germantown, MD, and grandsons
Christopher and Nicholas Chapman of Germantown, and Miles and Brooks Canaday of
Boston, MA. A burial will be held on August 20th at
N.H.
State
Veterans
Cemetery in Boscawen. A
reception and celebration of his life will be held at the Lake Sunapee
Protective Association, Knowlton House, in
Sunapee
Harbor, on August 20th,
1:00-3:30. Memorial contributions may be made to Lake Sunapee Protective
Association,
63 Main Street, P.O. Box 683,
Sunapee,
NH
03782, or to the
charity of one's choice.
