'A Pioneer on freedom's frontier': 60-foot flagpole dedicated to Lt. Col. Harlan Chapman

ELYRIA — Before Lt. Col. Harlan Page Chapman was a Marine, an appraiser, a prisoner or a war hero, he was a proud Elyrian and member of the Pioneers football team. On Friday, just before the Elyria High School football team kicked off its 2025 season, family and friends of Chapman along with local officials, community members and veterans raised an American flag and dedicated a new 60-foot flag pole in honor of the late veteran, who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for 2,670 days. The flag pole sits just north of Ely Stadium — one could see only the field if sitting on the top — and right in the middle of the Elyria Schools Athletic Complex on Middle Avenue. This places Chapman above where the old Ely Stadium once stood, and where he himself once represented the Pioneers on the gridiron. Frances "Fran" Chapman, Harlan's widow, was present for the ceremony and said that it was exactly where her husband would want to be remembered. "He was very proud of having played on the football team, he talked about it from the time that I knew him," Fran Chapman said. "He said that the football coach was the person who first taught him how to take pain and get back up. He had real fond memories of his high school coach and playing here." Born in Carlisle Township, Chapman graduated from Elyria in 1952 and from Miami University in Oxford four years later. A member of the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps, Chapman enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduation and would eventually become a fighter pilot. It was while flying a bombing mission just south of Hanoi in North Vietnam that Chapman was shot down on Nov. 5, 1965. Chapman landed safely, but was quickly captured by North Vietnamese fighters and taken to Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, which American troops referred to sarcastically as the "Hanoi Hilton," due to its deplorable conditions. He would remain in captivity, enduring torture, starvation and isolation, until Feb. 12, 1973. He may have remembered that lesson from his football coach over those seven years. "I'm sure more than once during that time, the peaceful shores of his home in Lorain County and that of Lake Erie, as well as the halls of Elyria High School, which seemed a universe way and thoughts of home were on his mind," said Jacob Smith, executive director of the Veterans Service Commission. "For him, it had only been 13 years earlier that this young pioneer found himself playing his last football game. Chapman died on May 6, 2024, at his home in Green Valley, Arizona, and was later buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Earlier this year, radio personality and Elyria High School football announcer Russ Van Wormer endeavored to see a memorial to Chapman built, so he got in touch with Elyria Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1079 and the idea of the memorial flagpole was born. Four months later, Van Wormer stood at the podium on Friday and thanked the VFW, Elyria Schools, city officials, donating companies and the Lorain County Veterans Service Commission for their help in making the idea a reality. He gave a special thanks to the members of the Elyria football team, who had carried the three massive sections of the flag pole to their final home from Ely Stadium, where they had been stored for safekeeping. Van Wormer was followed by Elyria Mayor Kevin Brubaker, who read a proclamation declaring that the flag would stand in Chapman's honor and formally thanking both Chapman and his family for their sacrifice. "Lt. Col. Chapman's legacy lives on through his humility, compassion and lifelong dedication to family, county and community," Brubaker said. "... (I) proclaim that Lt. Col. Harlan Chapman be honored and remembered with deepest gratitude and solemn pride for his heroism, perseverance and patriotism, a legacy that continues to inspire generations of Americans." When the mayor had finished, he handed the proclamation to Fran Chapman. Smith spoke about the history of the Chapman family, which included service in the Revolutionary War, Civil War and First World War. Service was not foreign to the family, he said, but exactly what made Chapman who he was could also be found in Lorain County. "The ingredients that made Harlan stand firm in the face of such despair are found in the city of Elyria and in this country we call home," Smith said. "It is here that he undoubtedly learned at his father's knee and perhaps his grandfather's knee, the values of duty, honor and country passed down in the Chapman family from one generation to the next. His values were centered on what was best for America. And that can be found right here in the city of Elyria." Smith said that just as Chapman had kept his promise to serve his country, the flag pole dedication was an example of the VFW, Van Wormer and others keeping their promise to honor his memory. "We like to think that using him as inspiration, we have kept our promise to his memory today and to his family," Smith said, harkening back to a speech he had given at a memorial to Chapman in May. "This flag pole will stand literally as a monument for all Pioneers playing on these fields to look up to and say, 'There stands the flag pole with our nation's colors,' remembering an Elyria Pioneer on freedom's frontier." After Smith spoke, a group of local Marine Corps veterans carried forward a large American flag, and David Arredondo sang the national anthem as it was raised, joined by those in the crowd. A large bird of prey flew over the ceremony as it went on. There was some debate among attendees as to whether the bird was an eagle, a hawk or an osprey, but Van Wormer said that to him, regardless of the bird's identity, its presence was a clear sign that the mission was complete. The crowd who attended the ceremony then made the short walk to Ely Stadium to cheer on Chapman's beloved hometown team. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.