Edward Thomas Chapman (VC, BEM) was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Details

He was 25 years old, and a Corporal in the 3rd Bn., The Monmouthshire Regiment , British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 2 April 1945, near the Dortmund-Ems canal, Germany, Corporal Chapman's section came under heavy machine-gun fire, causing many casualties. He ordered his men to take cover and went forward alone with a Bren gun, mowing down the enemy at point-blank range, forcing them to retire. His section isolated, Corporal Chapman again halted the enemy advances with his Bren gun, at one time firing it over his shoulder, to cover those bringing him ammunition. He then carried in his company commander who was lying wounded, but on the way back the officer was killed and Corporal Chapman wounded.

Further information

He later achieved the rank of Company Sergeant-Major.

EDWARD CHAPMAN, who has died aged 82, was awarded a VC as a corporal in the final stages of the North West Campaign in Germany.

His citation recorded that: "On April 2 1945 a company of the Monmouthshire Regiment crossed the Dortmund-Ems canal and was ordered to assault the ridge of the Teutoberger Wald, which dominates the surrounding country.

"This ridge is steep, thickly wooded and is ideal defensive country. It was, moreover, defended by a battalion of German officer cadets and their instructors, all of them picked men and fanatical Nazis.

"Corporal Chapman was advancing with his section in single file along a narrow track, when the enemy suddenly opened fire with machine-guns at short range, inflicting heavy casualties and causing some confusion.

"Corporal Chapman immediately ordered his section to take cover, and, seizing the Bren gun, he advanced alone, firing the gun from his hip, and mowed down the enemy at point blank range, forcing them to retire in disorder.

"At this point, however, his company was ordered to withdraw; but Corporal Chapman and his section were still left in their advance position, as the order could not be got forward to them. The enemy then began to close up to Corporal Chapman and his isolated section and, under cover of intense machine-gun fire, they made determined charges with the bayonets.

"Corporal Chapman again rose with his Bren gun to meet the assaults and on each occasion halted their advance. He had now nearly run out of ammunition. Shouting to his section for more bandoliers, he dropped into a hole in the ground and covered those bringing up the ammunition by lying on his back and firing the Bren gun over his shoulder."

At this point the Germans attempted to eliminate Chapman with grenades but, with a reloaded magazine, "he closed with them and once again drove the enemy back with considerable casualties. During the withdrawal of his company, the company commander had been severely wounded and left lying in the open a short distance from Corporal Chapman.

"Satisfied that his section was now secure, at any rate for the moment, he went out alone under withering fire and carried his company commander for 50 yards to comparative safety. On the way a sniper hit the officer again, wounding Corporal Chapman in the hip and, when he reached our lines, it was discovered that the officer had been killed.

"In spite of his wounds, Corporal Chapman refused to be evacuated and went back to his company until the position was fully restored two hours later.

"Throughout the action Corporal Chapman displayed outstanding gallantry and superb courage. Single-handed he repulsed the attacks of well-led, determined troops and gave his battalion time to re-organise on a vital piece of ground overlooking the only bridge across the canal.

"His magnificent bravery played a very large part in the capture of this vital ridge and in the successful development of subsequent operations."

Edward Thomas Chapman was born at Pen Y Graig, Pontlottyn, Glamorgan, on January 13 1920. He was educated at Fochrhiw School and after leaving at the age of 14, started work as a miner at Ogilvey Colliery at Deri.

Both his father and grandfather before him had worked in the mines. His grandfather - a pit manager - had been killed when the cage in which he was travelling plunged to the bottom of the shaft, a memory which caused Chapman later to discourage his own sons from following the family tradition.

On April 19 1940 Chapman enlisted in the Monmouthshire Regiment, and he served in the North West Europe Campaign from June 25 1944 to May 22 1946, during which time he fought in Normandy, the Low Countries and North West Germany, taking part in the Rhine crossing. He was decorated with his VC by King George VI at Buckingham Palace on July 31 1945.

After the war Chapman worked first for Rhyny Engineering, and then for the Great Western Railway where he was employed in track maintenance. Later he worked as a nylon spinner at Pontypool for 25 years until his retirement in 1982.

In 1948 he rejoined the Territorial Army, serving until 1957, by which time he had reached the rank of Company Sergeant Major. He was awarded a British Empire Medal for his TA service.

The citation in the London Gazette stated: "He has taken a full and active part in all the activities of his company and battalion. He is the type who is proud to be in the Territorial Army, and in addition considers it his duty to serve his country.

"He was recently taken in for a fourth tour of duty despite the calls of his own business. Unlike many others who sit back and consider they have done their duty, this sergeant is only happy when he is taking part in the activities of the regiment.

"I cannot over-emphasise what it has meant to his company and battalion to have such a man volunteer time and again. His company has grown in stature by having him on its strength."

An ardent fly-fisherman, Chapman fished for trout all over the British Isles. He was also the founder of the Ynyswen stud farm, becoming an expert breeder of Welsh mountain ponies.

At one time he had 30 acres (120,000 m²) of land, plus access to more in mountain rights, where he kept 30 mares and two stallions. He was a life member of the Welsh Pony and Cob Society.

In 1942 he married Rhoda Frances Jean Watkins, of Belfast. She survives him, together with their three children.

While serving as a corporal with The Monmouthshire Regiment in April 1945, Ted Chapman won one of the last Victoria Crosses to be awarded in the European theatre in the Second World War. Although the end of the war in Europe was only a month away, there was still fierce fighting to be done as the Allies pushed deep into Germany after piercing the Siegfried Line. Chapman performed the spectacular deeds which led to his decoration as the 3rd Monmouths came up against fanatical last-ditch resistance in Westphalia. This was in the difficult terrain of the Teutoberger Wald, an area made famous in military history through the destruction there of three Roman legions by the Germanic Cherusci tribe more than 1,900 years before.

Edward Thomas Chapman was born the son of a Welsh coalminer, John Chapman, and his wife Rachel (née Saunders) in 1920, in Pontlottyn, in the Rhymney Valley. He was educated at Fochrhiw School until the age of 14 when he left to go down the pit in the Ogilvy Colliery.

There he worked until 1940, when he enlisted in The Monmouthshire Regiment and was posted to the 2nd Battalion.

He first saw action in June 1944, when his battalion landed in Normandy as part of the 160th Brigade in the 53rd Welsh Division. He was a corporal commanding a section throughout the fighting in the beachhead and was wounded in the breakout at Falaise in August.

When he came out of hospital five weeks later he was posted to the 3rd Battalion and saw action with it in the fighting in the Low Countries in the autumn of 1944, and in the crossing of the Rhine and the advance into Germany in 1945. He won his VC during the advance on Osnabrück after the crossing of the Dortmund-Ems Canal.

On April 2, 1945, the 3rd Monmouths began what were to develop into repeated — and costly — attacks on the thickly wooded ridge of the Teutoberger Wald. This symbolic forest was being held by a fanatically dedicated force of German officer cadets and their instructors from the Officer School in Hanover, who were making a last stand.

Chapman was leading his section in his company’s advance along a narrow track through the woods when a machinegun opened fire on them at short range, inflicting heavy casualties and causing considerable confusion. Chapman seized his section’s Bren gun and advanced alone, firing from the hip. He mowed down his opponents at point-blank range and forced them to retire in disorder.

At this point his company was ordered to retire but the order did not reach Chapman, and his section was left isolated in its advanced position. The Germans closed in and delivered a number of bayonet charges under cover of intense machinegun fire. Chapman again rose with his Bren gun to meet the assaults and on each occasion halted the attackers with his fire.

He was soon running out of ammunition, so shouting to the survivors of his section for more bandoliers, he dropped into a fold in the ground, rolled on to his back and covered those bringing up ammunition by firing the Bren over his shoulder. The Germans made every effort to eliminate him with grenades, but with his magazine reloaded he closed with them and once more drove them off.

During the company’s withdrawal, his company commander had been severely wounded and was lying in the open a short distance from Chapman’s position. Still under heavy fire, Chapman reached him and carried him back to comparative safety, but as he did so the officer was hit again, the round wounding Chapman in the thigh as well. But when he reached cover, he found that his company commander was dead. He himself refused to be evacuated until the position was finally secured.

Ted Chapman was a quiet, unassuming and down-to-earth man, who called a spade a spade. He possessed ample commonsense and had a keen observation of people and their motives. Normally easygoing, he could be roused, as his actions in the Teutoberger Wald showed. One of his delights was revisiting the places he knew so well in France and Germany with his wartime comrades.

He did not go back to the mines when he was discharged from the regular Army in 1946. After working in an engineering firm and then as a porter on Pontlottyn railway station, he was employed as a nylon spinner at ICI Fibres in Pontypool, where he worked for 25 years, retiring in 1980. He and his wife also set up as shopkeepers.

From his childhood Chapman had grown up with horses, and after the war he established the Ynyswen Stud of Welsh Mountain Ponies (Section A) and the slightly larger Welsh Ponies (Section B). His eye for a pony was legendary and he was a familiar figure at successive Royal Welsh Shows, where his ponies always did well, even against much better funded opposition.

Chapman’s other passion was fly-fishing. He had fished rivers, streams, lochs and lakes all over the United Kingdom and Ireland, mainly for trout, but also for salmon and, on occasion, for pike.

Missing the Army, he rejoined the 2nd Monmouths in 1948, and was awarded the BEM in 1953 for his outstanding services to the Territorial Army. He retired from the TA in 1957 as a much respected company sergeant-major, having also been awarded both the Coronation and Jubilee Medals for his service to his local community. He always kept in touch with his regiment and was prominent in its affairs.

Chapman’s death leaves 18 living holders of the Victoria Cross.

Ted Chapman married, in 1942, Rhoda Frances Jean Watkins of Belfast. He is survived by her and by their daughter and two sons.

Ted Chapman, VC, BEM, was born on January 13, 1920. He died on February 3, 2002, aged 82.

One of the last surviving Second World War heroes to be awarded the Victoria Cross has died, aged 82.

Ted Chapman won Britain's highest military honour for gallantry after repeatedly and single-handedly holding back a force of German officer cadets in 1945.

The modest hero from New Inn, Pontypool, south Wales, described as a "quiet family man", died after suffering heart problems for a number of years.

His death means there are only 15 people who received the VC during the Second World War still alive.

His daughter Janet Morris said: "Mr father was the most modest person you could ever imagine. You would never know that he was awarded a scout badge let alone a VC. He always wanted to play it down.

"When he was interviewed about it years later he said worse things had happened on other occasions, but they were never recorded.

"Nobody went into the war saying 'today I'm going to be brave'. But if you didn't do it you got killed, that was his attitude - you had to do it."

Mr Chapman joined the Monmouthshire Regiment in 1940 after working as a miner for a number of years and first saw action in 1944 when his battalion landed in Normandy. He saw further action as the allied forces moved steadily across northern Europe and on April 2 1945 he was involved in fighting that would earn him the VC.

Corporal Chapman's section of the 3rd Battalion had been ordered into the Teutoberger Wald, a wooded range of hills east of the Dortmund-Ems canal, in Germany. But they came under heavy machine-gun fire from a German battalion comprising officer cadets and their instructors who inflicted heavy casualties.

He ordered his men to take cover and went forward alone with a Bren gun, shooting the enemy at point-blank range and forcing them to retire. His section isolated, Corporal Chapman again halted the enemy advances with his Bren gun, at one point firing over his shoulder as he lay on his back in a fold in the ground to cover those bringing him ammunition.

Enemy soldiers tried to kill him with grenades but with a reloaded magazine he closed on them and once again drove them back. He then carried his wounded company commander, Captain Victor Mountford, to safety, but on the way back the officer was killed and Corporal Chapman was injured.

Story filed: 14:21 Tuesday 5th February 2002

The medal

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Reference

• British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
• Monuments To Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
• Tony Williams, Stephen Power, Edwin King, Brandon Smith

See also

External links

This page has been migrated from the Victoria Cross Reference with permission.