Born on 23rd September 1923, 2nd Lt. Gerald C. Chapman came from Stoughton, a town south of Boston, Massachusetts. Trained for many months in the United States, he was sent to the European Theater of Operations in December 1943.
On 2nd August 1944, he took off in a P-51 from Debden on a strafing mission to the Paris area. Shot down by mobile flak while flying at 100 feet, one of four P-51s strafing a motor transport column on the road NW of Fourival, France. His airplane crashed at 201hrs in Le Bois Huyad at Le Mesnil-Sur-Bulles, 2 miles east-northeast of Beauvais, France.
That day, a group of three "Mustangs" of the 4th Fighter Group which included 2nd Lt. Chapman. He took off from the base having Captain Otey M. Glass Jr as the leader. Its mission was to fly over our area in search of potential enemy targets to strafe. The mission was almost complete; the "Mustangs" were preparing to return to England when they flew over the Beauvais-Tillé German airfield. Preparing to strafe possible aircraft on the ground, anti-aircraft batteries protecting the base began to target the attackers who were forced to disperse in a sky with poor visibility.
To the east of Beauvais, the "Mustang" # 43-6846, piloted by 2nd Lt. Gerald C. Chapman, was again targeted by a German mobile antiaircraft battery. Positioned to protect the German fuel depot of the Bois de Mont, southwest of St. Just-en-Chaussée, the German gunners fired on the "Mustang" of 2nd Lt. Chapman which was approaching at a low level. Hit full-on and immediately on fire, the out-of-control and destabilized aircraft crashed near the Huyard wood, close to the small road connecting Fournival and Le Mesnil-Sur-Bulles, about 400 meters from the German battery, leaving no chance for the young pilot aged 20 to evacuate his plane. It was about 8:30 pm. It was harvest time. Witnesses, working in a nearby field, remembered the aircraft falling.
Dislodged on impact, the engine of the "Mustang" was thrown into the woods on the other side of the road.
The body of the pilot was recovered by the Germans. The dog tag found on his body allowed him to be identified. On 5th August, they buried him in grave No. 316 marked by a British-type metal cross wearing the inscriptions found on the dog tag "0-815581 T43 S43 AP, Gerald C. Chapman USAAF 2-8-44.”
Several months after the Liberation, U.S. authorities inspected his grave and confirmed the identity of the pilot. On 15th June 1945, the remains of 2nd Lt. Chapman were transferred to the U.S. provisional cemetery of Champigneul, Marne. The family of the pilot was then contacted to see if they wanted the repatriation of his body to the United States. They chose to keep it in France.
Exhumed again on 23rd August 1948, the body of 2nd Lt. Gerald C. Chapman now lies in the Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France.
Source of information: www.findagrave.com