The WallVietnam Veterans Memorial · The Lake Norman Brief
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina.
An airman lights a candle during POW/MIA recognition week at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. Photo: A1C Aaron Jenne, U.S. Air Force, public domain. Shown for the time and place, not a photograph of Rodney Max Chapman.

The Wall › Panel 32W › Michigan › Rodney Max Chapman

RODNEY MAX CHAPMAN

Lieutenant Commander · U.S. Navy

February 26, 1935 – February 18, 1969

Service record

Rodney Max Chapman, of Alpena, Michigan, served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. He died on February 18, 1969, in North Vietnam, at age 33. His name is inscribed on Panel 32W, Line 53 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On the Wall

Panel 32W · Line 53

Position of Panel 32W on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Names are inscribed in the order of loss, starting at Panel 1E at the apex and ending at Panel 1W. At the Memorial, find the panel number at the base and count down from the top line.

Remember

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Service

Branch
U.S. Navy
Rank
Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
Service
Regular
Occupation
Url Pilot (1310)
Unit (as recorded)
VAH 10 USS CORAL SEA CVA 43
Born
February 26, 1935
Home of record
Alpena, Michigan (Alpena County)

Casualty

Date of death
February 18, 1969
Age
33
Country
North Vietnam
Casualty type
Non-hostile
Category
Accident
Circumstance
Aircraft Crash — crew
Remains
Not recovered as of the 2008 DoD record

Context · from the records

What was happening

25 names on the Wall carry the date February 18, 1969. In February 1969, 1,304 Americans whose names are on the Wall died in the war.

The unit recorded as “VAH 10 USS CORAL SEA CVA 43”, his unit in the record, lost 3 of its members that month.

The record places this loss in North Vietnam, outside South Vietnam — most often the sign of an air crew lost over the North or the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

His remains had not been recovered when the 2008 record was compiled. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to search for Americans still missing from the war; families can find case information through dpaa.mil.

Also on Panel 32W, Line 53

Same unit, same day

From Alpena

Source. U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Casualty Analysis System, Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File (as of April 29, 2008), Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330, National Archives (NAID 2240992). Panel and line as recorded in that file. This page presents the official record and its historical context; no biography has been written for him yet. See something wrong? Report a correction.