Edward Thomas Chapman

Corporal Edward Thomas Chapman VC served in 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment during World War Two. Known as Ted, he was the husband of Rhoda Frances Jean Chapman (née Watkins) of 35 Pandora Street, Belfast, Co. Antrim.

Born on 13th January 1920 at Caenerydd New Road, Pontlottyn, Glamorgan, Wales, Ted was a miner before the outbreak of the Second World War. He had left school at Fochrhiw School aged 14 years old to follow his father and grandfather into the mines. In March 1942, Corporal Chapman married Rhoda Watkins, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Watkins from the Donegall Road area of Belfast, Co. Antrim. The couple wed in Richview Presbyterian Church, Belfast, Co. Antrim and had a son also named Ted Chapman.

Ted and Rhoda met at a social on 14th April 1941, one night before the Easter Raid of the Belfast Blitz. She worked in a factory in the city making uniforms for soldiers. After the Luftwaffe raids, she and her mother evacuated to Newry, Co. Down where she once again met up with Ted and romance blossomed.

On 2nd April 1945, Corporal Chapman led a charge on machine-gun posts at the Teutobergerwald Ridge near the Dortmund-Ems Canal, Germany. His unit advanced along a steep and thickly wooded section under fire from a battalion of German Officer Cadets and Instructors. Ordering the unit to take cover, he single-handedly fought off enemy attacks, inflicting casualties with a seized Bren Gun. After satisfying himself that the section was secure, he set out to rescue a wounded Company Commander. Chapman himself sustained a gunshot wound to the hip.

Victoria Cross Citation

On April 2 a company of the Monmouthshire Regiment crossed the Dortmund-Ems canal and was ordered to assault the ridge of the Teutoburger 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 in their advanced 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 bayonet.

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 fold in the ground and covered those bringing up the ammunition by lying on his back and firing the Bren Gun over his shoulder. A party of Germans made every effort to eliminate him with grenades, but with reloaded magazine, he closed with it 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 wound, 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 reorganise 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.

Reaction in Northern Ireland

By the end of the war, Chapman was an experienced soldier having enlisted on 19th April 1940. Another Chapman brother served in Rangoon as a photographer with the Royal Air Force. The London Gazette announced Chapman’s Victoria Cross award on Friday 13th July 1945. At the time, his wife Rhoda was visiting her grandmother in Newry, Co. Down and only learned of the news on her return to Belfast.

I can’t express how thrilled I am at the great news. Though Ted is very quiet and shy, he did tell me in one of his letters about rescuing an officer and said there was a rumour around that he might get some sort of a medal.

Rhoda Chapman – Northern Whig – Saturday 14th July 1945.

While Chapman was still in Germany he sent a letter home to Rhoda in Belfast, Co. Antrim. In it, he made no mention of the award but enclosed letters received from the sister and fiancée of Captain Mountford of Hereford, England. Mountford was the officer that Chapman set out to rescue and was due to marry his fiancée on his next leave.

I can’t express my thanks to you for what you did. I can only hope for your safety and success and happiness in the years to come when all this is over.

Miss Margaret Atkinson, Nantwich, Cheshire.

Ted did return safe and well to Belfast, Co. Antrim at the end of July 1945 before he and his wife visited his hometown in Wales. In March 1945, he had last spent 7 days’ leave in Northern Ireland. Corporal Chapman became the first member of the Monmouthshire Regiment to win the Victoria Cross. After receiving his medal at Buckingham Palace, London on Tuesday 31st July 1945, Chapman expressed his desire to demob and get a job! His mother would have been pleased by that news.

I am very proud of my son, but all that really matters is that he is alive. I expected he would get something but not the VC.

Mrs. Chapman, Herefordshire.

After the Second World War, Ted achieved the rank of Company Sergeant Major with 2nd Monmouthshire Regiment in the Territorial Army. He received a British Empire Medal in 1953. He worked at ICI Fibres in Pontypool, was a keen fly-fisher, and bred Welsh Mountain Ponies until his death on 3rd February 2002 aged 82 years old.