Sowers Chapel pays tribute to late WWII veteran
WINFIELD TWP — As it has each year since 2010, Sowers Chapel in Winfield Township held a special Memorial Day service on Sunday, May 25 to pay tribute to a recently-deceased veteran.
This year, the honoree was Joseph Rodney Chapman, a veteran of World War II who died in December 2022 at the age of 101.
“When we heard his exploits during the Second World War, my reaction was, jeez,” said Al Lindsay, the co-organizer of the event. “I never knew that our postmaster had done all those things and had been through all of that during the Second World War.”
Chapman is the 14th veteran to be honored by Sowers Chapel on Memorial Day weekend since the tradition began in 2010 (the service took two years off in 2020-21 due to COVID-19). According to co-organizer Trish Lindsay, the idea to honor Chapman came to her attention during a previous Memorial Day service, when an attendee gave her numerous materials on Chapman’s life.
“She came and brought me all kinds of materials,” said Lindsay. “She came to us and said, ‘You could do Rod Chapman.’”
Like the vast majority of American men of his generation, Chapman was called up to do his part to protect the free world after America was plunged into World War II in 1941. By then, Chapman working for Allegheny Ludlum Steel in Brackenridge after graduating from Freeport High School two years earlier.
While fighting as part of Company A, 319th Infantry, 80th Infantry Division, his unit was overrun by Germans in September 1944, and he was taken as a prisoner of war. During the ambush, which left many of his company-mates dead, he was injured on the knee by shrapnel from mortar fire.
Chapman would remain as a prisoner of war, enduring harsh treatment and grueling conditions until April 1945, when he and his fellow prisoners were liberated, just as the war in Europe came to an end.
During the service, Lindsay relayed the story of Chapman’s time serving in Europe, including the story of his time as a prisoner of war.
“It's a harrowing tale. It's a tale of starvation,” Lindsay said. “He once said that they were offered food, and they wondered what the meat was in the pot. And it turned out it was a horse's head.”
During his time in the service, Chapman earned the Purple Heart, the French Legion of Honor Award and the Bronze Star.
After the war, Chapman returned to Pennsylvania and took a job working as a mail carrier for the Freeport Post Office, where he would later become chief clerk. He would continue to work at the post office for 35 years before retiring in 1981.
Since July 2023, the post office now officially bears his name, thanks to a unanimous vote of the House of Representatives which took place eight months prior.
Two members of Chapman’s family attended Sunday’s service — his son Tom, and his grandson Sean, both of whom made the trip from Ohio.
“I think Dad would have been very, very proud of the service today, and very thankful that folks were willing to do this,” Tom said.
The surviving Chapmans were presented with a ceremonial American flag that once flew over the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, as well as a Pennsylvania state flag presented by Butler County Recorder of Deeds Michele Mustello, the sister of state Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th.
During the service, tribute was also paid to David Alden, who served as the singer for previous Sowers Chapel Memorial Day services. Alden died earlier this year, and in tribute to him, soloist Nicholas Parenti sang one of Alden’s favorite songs — American Anthem, composed for a Ken Burns documentary on World War II.
“We are dedicating this to David, who enhanced our Memorial Day services so much over the years,” Lindsay said.
