THE VICTORIA CROSS MEDAL GROUP AWARDED TO COMPANY SERGEANT-MAJOR EDWARD CHAPMAN VC, BEM, THE MONMOUTHSHIRE REGIMENT, HAS BEEN ACQUIRED BY THE LORD ASCHCROFT VC COLLECTION. |
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16 September 2013 |
The Victoria Cross medal group awarded to Company Sergeant-Major Edward Chapman, 3rd Bn, The Monmouthshire Regiment, has been acquired by the Michael Ashcroft Trust, the holding institution for the Lord Ashcroft VC Collection. The group will go on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery housed in the Imperial War Museum, London. |
For the award of the Victoria Cross.
[ London Gazette, 13 July 1945 ], Teutoburger Wald, Germany, 2 April 1945, Corporal Edward Thomas Chapman, 3rd Bn, Monmouthshire Regiment.
On 2nd April 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.Edward Chapman was invested with his Victoria Cross by King George VI at Buckingham Palace on the 31st July 1945. Missing the Army, Edward Chapman 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. Edward Chapman died on the 3rd February 2002 and is buried in Panteg Cemetery, New Inn, Monmouthshire. |
Iain Stewart, 16 September 2013