homas C Chapman was born on 21 November 1924, in Pawnee, Oklahoma. His father, Henry (Pawnee Nation), was 31 and his mother, Marie, was 20. When WWII started in 1941, Thomas (age 17) joined the US Marine Corps and volunteered for the newly-formed Elite Paratroopers. He went into combat against the Japanese on 12 November 1942, with the First Marine Parachute BN on Guadalcanal. He was wounded in action in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Following the war, he married Lucille Bernice Kauley on 19 August 1948, in Perry, Oklahoma. They had three children during their marriage. He died on 22 April 1998, in his hometown at the age of 73, and was buried there.