In Memory of ....... Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman.
**** The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today [Aug. 9, 2023] that U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ralph J. Chipman, killed during Vietnam was accounted for Aug. 2, 2023.
In the winter of 1972, Chipman was assigned to Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533, Marine Attack Group 12, 1st Marine Air Wing. On Dec. 27, Chipman was piloting an A-6A Intruder, along with his co-pilot, during a nighttime combat mission over the northern part of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam. After entering the target area, Chipman's aircraft ceased radio communications and never returned to base. Search and rescue teams could not locate any trace of the aircraft or the crew in the Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province. In July 1974, the Marine Corps reported Capt. Chipman as Killed in Action.
Capt Chipman is honored on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington DC; name inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 01w, Line 106.
In Memory of ....... Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman.
*** The AMERICAN FORK CEMETERY is located at: 100 East and 650 North in American Fork, Utah, Utah. The Following is a Memorial "Dedicated to those Veterans of American Fork memorialized around the world" Capt. Ralph Jim CHIPMAN, fighter pilot USMC missing in action Vietnam 1972.
*** the family put a plaque in front of the Provo City Library and planted a tree in Chipman's honor in Robinson Park in American Fork, Utah.
*** *** Honolulu Memorial - His name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial (Find a Grave Memorial ID: 153542697).
You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in those who knew you. You will live on because we remember you!
RALPH JIM CHIPMAN - Marine Corps - CAPT - O3
Age: 30
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Aug 15, 1943
From: OREM, UT
Religion: LATTER DAY SAINTS, MORMON
Marital Status: Married - Susan Richards Chipman. Has remarried. They had two (2) sons. Parents: Father, Curtis Thorton Chipman, Born Jan. 13, 1918 and Died Oct. 23, 2008 and Mother, Fay LaRue Fullmer Chipman, Born July 23, 1921 and Died Oct. 5, 2006. Brother, Max Curtis Chipman, Born July 15, 1940 and Died March 24, 2013. Paternal Grandparents, Elmer Parker & Ferne Thornton Chipman. Maternal Grandparents, Ralph & Emma Katrina Nelson Fullmer.
***** Eddieb, I just wanted to thank you for adding the memorial for Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman. I was honored to see the information on him and am grateful for his and his family's sacrifice.
Thank you so much for sharing,
~from a Jim's distant cousin
***** Today is December 27th 2007. It happened so long ago on this same day. I try to remember him each time on the 27th if for a just a short moment. I was the pilot of the flight behind him that night. I returned, he didn't. I am so sorry.
Harry Trauffer
Capt USMC
Powder Springs, Ga 30127
His tour began on Dec 27, 1972
Casualty was on December 27, 1972
In NORTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered
Panel 01W - Line 106
Other Personnel in Incident: Ronald W. Forrester (missing)
Captain Ralph J. Chipman was the pilot of an Intruder assigned a mission over North Vietnam on December 27, 1972. His co-pilot on the flight was First Lieutenant Ronald W. Forrester.
The aircraft did not return from the mission, and last contact was made with the crew over the target area.
A subsequent article in Quan Doi Nhan Dan, a daily Vietnamese newspaper described an aircraft downed by the Vietnamese.
Apparently the pilot was reported to be dead, and possibly the co-pilot as well. Although this article was thought to possibly relate to Chipman and Forrester, it was not definite enough for proof of death.
Both men were classified Missing in Action.
Captain Chipman and Captain Forrester have not been repatriated.
**********************************************
Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman, shot down Dec. 26, 1972, during a bombing run on a Vietnamese supply train.
Jim Chipman and Susan Richards grew up in the same Orem neighborhood. Jim was four years older and didn't pay much attention to her, but she paid attention to him.
"He was the one that I looked at and wanted to marry for a long time," she said. "I always had a crush on him." He returned from an LDS mission about the time she graduated from high school. They'd been married almost three years when he joined the Marines so he wouldn't be drafted. He went to officers candidate school and flight school, then started flying A-6 aircrafts. He was flying one during a night bombing run of a supply train in Vietnam. An air traffic controller cleared his plane into the target area as Chipman honed in on the enemy's supplies.
That was the last contact Capt. Chipman had with the United States. His plane was shot down and disappeared into the jungles of Vietnam. No trace of the plane, the navigator or the pilot have ever been found.
Richards, who lived in Orem with the couple's two sons, opened the door a few days after Christmas to the most unwelcome surprise in the world. "I opened the door and there was a Marine and my bishop," she said. "Then it just hit me what I was looking at." She seized on the fact that they hadn't found his body and continued to hope that he was a prisoner of war, but as the months passed, she accepted that her husband was not coming home. Years later, the military found an article in a Vietnamese newspaper discussing shooting down planes in that area, and Chipman's plane was the only one shot down during that time, which confirmed that. "After months, not knowing was worse than knowing the worst, which I never thought would be the case," she said.
She has since remarried but remembers her first husband with pride; in the years after his disappearance, the family put a plaque in front of the Provo City Library and planted a tree in Chipman's honor in Robinson Park in American Fork. She never would have chosen the ending, but she wasn't sorry Chipman joined the military.
The biggest struggle through the years was the grief. The difficulty she ran into, besides losing her husband, never recovering his body and having two young sons, was that she couldn't talk to many people about Jim, not when he'd died fighting in a war most of the country didn't want. "Part of the healing process for people that lose someone, I believe, is you just want to talk about him," Richards said. "Nobody wanted to talk about Vietnam after it ended."
Today, she's glad to see people welcoming soldiers back, recognizing their sacrifice and thanking them for their service. "All Jim did was do what the president of the United States told him to do; it wasn't his decision," she said. "People that came home alive were treated like criminals, like they did something wrong. I'm glad we've learned better."
She and a friend are gathering stories for a book on how soldiers going to war affected the wives and children they left behind. Anyone interested in submitting their experiences can contact her at [email protected].
*************************
Please add this to his memorial page. Thanks so much, Arlene
Ralph Jim Chipman was born on August 15, 1943, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Curtis and Faye Chipman. He was the second son in a family of four boys; Max, Jim, Kenneth Ray, and Joe. In Jim's own words, his life was filled with hard work, close family ties, and lots of wonderful experiences. When he was only a year and a half old, the family moved to American Fork to the farm that had been owned by Jim's grandpa, Elmer Chipman. They raised turkeys, chickens, sheep, grain, peas, and sugar beets. While Jim was at home, he always had farm chores to do after school which often kept him out of trouble and taught him to work hard.
Jim attended elementary school in American Fork, American Fork Junior High, and graduated from American Fork High School. Jim lettered in tennis at the high school but his first love was basketball. He wasn't tall enough to play high school ball, but he played church basketball and was known for his long shots, even from the half-court line. Their ward team competed in the regional finals, which in those days was a big deal.
After high school graduation, Jim enrolled at BYU where he majored in Business Management with an emphasis in banking and finance. After his first year at BYU, he was called on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in the Eastern Atlantic States. He loved teaching the gospel and he learned how to study which helped him at school when he returned home. Jim was always active in the church and served in many callings in his short life.
The summer after his mission, he went to work for Savage Brothers Inc. Neal Savage was a great mentor, boss, and friend for many years and financially supported part of Jim's mission. Jim operated a heavy-duty loader at a construction site in Ogden. He also worked for his brother, Max, building boat seats and upholstering the inside of boats.
During his junior year at BYU, Jim married Susan Smith, daughter of Leland and Joyce Smith, on June 17 in the Salt Lake Temple. While in his senior year, Jim received his first draft notice so he applied for a deferment to finish his last year of college. A day or two after graduation, he went to the draft board office and they were preparing his second draft notice. He had always dreamed of flying airplanes but the Air Force had no openings for pilots. However, the Marines needed pilots so he was sworn into the Marines the next day and put on deferred enlistment.
After a short time with General Foods as a sales representative, he started his basic training and officer candidate school in Quantico, Virginia, and then on to pilot training at Vance Air Force base in Enid, Oklahoma. After pilot training, he was stationed at Cherry Point Naval Air Station to learn how to fly like the Navy, including training to fly on an aircraft carrier. At Cherry Point, he also learned to fly the A-6 Intruder. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and then to Captain just before he received orders to serve in Vietnam.
In 1972, Jim flew several missions a week in Vietnam as part of the war effort. On December 27, 1972, Jim's plane was shot down over North Vietnam and he and his navigator, Ron Forrester, were listed as missing in action. This past July 2023, while a recovery team was investigating a crash site in Vietnam, they found Jim's dog tags and some remains that were positively identified as belonging to Captain Ralph Jim Chipman. After more than 50 years, part of Jim is being returned to American Fork where he grew up.
Jim is survived by his wife, Susan Richards, and his two sons, Scot Lee Chipman and Matthew Curtis Chipman.
******************
.
**** The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today [Aug. 9, 2023] that U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ralph J. Chipman, killed during Vietnam was accounted for Aug. 2, 2023.
In the winter of 1972, Chipman was assigned to Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533, Marine Attack Group 12, 1st Marine Air Wing. On Dec. 27, Chipman was piloting an A-6A Intruder, along with his co-pilot, during a nighttime combat mission over the northern part of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam. After entering the target area, Chipman's aircraft ceased radio communications and never returned to base. Search and rescue teams could not locate any trace of the aircraft or the crew in the Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province. In July 1974, the Marine Corps reported Capt. Chipman as Killed in Action.
Capt Chipman is honored on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington DC; name inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 01w, Line 106.
In Memory of ....... Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman.
*** The AMERICAN FORK CEMETERY is located at: 100 East and 650 North in American Fork, Utah, Utah. The Following is a Memorial "Dedicated to those Veterans of American Fork memorialized around the world" Capt. Ralph Jim CHIPMAN, fighter pilot USMC missing in action Vietnam 1972.
*** the family put a plaque in front of the Provo City Library and planted a tree in Chipman's honor in Robinson Park in American Fork, Utah.
*** *** Honolulu Memorial - His name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial (Find a Grave Memorial ID: 153542697).
You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in those who knew you. You will live on because we remember you!
RALPH JIM CHIPMAN - Marine Corps - CAPT - O3
Age: 30
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Aug 15, 1943
From: OREM, UT
Religion: LATTER DAY SAINTS, MORMON
Marital Status: Married - Susan Richards Chipman. Has remarried. They had two (2) sons. Parents: Father, Curtis Thorton Chipman, Born Jan. 13, 1918 and Died Oct. 23, 2008 and Mother, Fay LaRue Fullmer Chipman, Born July 23, 1921 and Died Oct. 5, 2006. Brother, Max Curtis Chipman, Born July 15, 1940 and Died March 24, 2013. Paternal Grandparents, Elmer Parker & Ferne Thornton Chipman. Maternal Grandparents, Ralph & Emma Katrina Nelson Fullmer.
***** Eddieb, I just wanted to thank you for adding the memorial for Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman. I was honored to see the information on him and am grateful for his and his family's sacrifice.
Thank you so much for sharing,
~from a Jim's distant cousin
***** Today is December 27th 2007. It happened so long ago on this same day. I try to remember him each time on the 27th if for a just a short moment. I was the pilot of the flight behind him that night. I returned, he didn't. I am so sorry.
Harry Trauffer
Capt USMC
Powder Springs, Ga 30127
His tour began on Dec 27, 1972
Casualty was on December 27, 1972
In NORTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered
Panel 01W - Line 106
Other Personnel in Incident: Ronald W. Forrester (missing)
Captain Ralph J. Chipman was the pilot of an Intruder assigned a mission over North Vietnam on December 27, 1972. His co-pilot on the flight was First Lieutenant Ronald W. Forrester.
The aircraft did not return from the mission, and last contact was made with the crew over the target area.
A subsequent article in Quan Doi Nhan Dan, a daily Vietnamese newspaper described an aircraft downed by the Vietnamese.
Apparently the pilot was reported to be dead, and possibly the co-pilot as well. Although this article was thought to possibly relate to Chipman and Forrester, it was not definite enough for proof of death.
Both men were classified Missing in Action.
Captain Chipman and Captain Forrester have not been repatriated.
**********************************************
Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman, shot down Dec. 26, 1972, during a bombing run on a Vietnamese supply train.
Jim Chipman and Susan Richards grew up in the same Orem neighborhood. Jim was four years older and didn't pay much attention to her, but she paid attention to him.
"He was the one that I looked at and wanted to marry for a long time," she said. "I always had a crush on him." He returned from an LDS mission about the time she graduated from high school. They'd been married almost three years when he joined the Marines so he wouldn't be drafted. He went to officers candidate school and flight school, then started flying A-6 aircrafts. He was flying one during a night bombing run of a supply train in Vietnam. An air traffic controller cleared his plane into the target area as Chipman honed in on the enemy's supplies.
That was the last contact Capt. Chipman had with the United States. His plane was shot down and disappeared into the jungles of Vietnam. No trace of the plane, the navigator or the pilot have ever been found.
Richards, who lived in Orem with the couple's two sons, opened the door a few days after Christmas to the most unwelcome surprise in the world. "I opened the door and there was a Marine and my bishop," she said. "Then it just hit me what I was looking at." She seized on the fact that they hadn't found his body and continued to hope that he was a prisoner of war, but as the months passed, she accepted that her husband was not coming home. Years later, the military found an article in a Vietnamese newspaper discussing shooting down planes in that area, and Chipman's plane was the only one shot down during that time, which confirmed that. "After months, not knowing was worse than knowing the worst, which I never thought would be the case," she said.
She has since remarried but remembers her first husband with pride; in the years after his disappearance, the family put a plaque in front of the Provo City Library and planted a tree in Chipman's honor in Robinson Park in American Fork. She never would have chosen the ending, but she wasn't sorry Chipman joined the military.
The biggest struggle through the years was the grief. The difficulty she ran into, besides losing her husband, never recovering his body and having two young sons, was that she couldn't talk to many people about Jim, not when he'd died fighting in a war most of the country didn't want. "Part of the healing process for people that lose someone, I believe, is you just want to talk about him," Richards said. "Nobody wanted to talk about Vietnam after it ended."
Today, she's glad to see people welcoming soldiers back, recognizing their sacrifice and thanking them for their service. "All Jim did was do what the president of the United States told him to do; it wasn't his decision," she said. "People that came home alive were treated like criminals, like they did something wrong. I'm glad we've learned better."
She and a friend are gathering stories for a book on how soldiers going to war affected the wives and children they left behind. Anyone interested in submitting their experiences can contact her at [email protected].
*************************
Please add this to his memorial page. Thanks so much, Arlene
Ralph Jim Chipman was born on August 15, 1943, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Curtis and Faye Chipman. He was the second son in a family of four boys; Max, Jim, Kenneth Ray, and Joe. In Jim's own words, his life was filled with hard work, close family ties, and lots of wonderful experiences. When he was only a year and a half old, the family moved to American Fork to the farm that had been owned by Jim's grandpa, Elmer Chipman. They raised turkeys, chickens, sheep, grain, peas, and sugar beets. While Jim was at home, he always had farm chores to do after school which often kept him out of trouble and taught him to work hard.
Jim attended elementary school in American Fork, American Fork Junior High, and graduated from American Fork High School. Jim lettered in tennis at the high school but his first love was basketball. He wasn't tall enough to play high school ball, but he played church basketball and was known for his long shots, even from the half-court line. Their ward team competed in the regional finals, which in those days was a big deal.
After high school graduation, Jim enrolled at BYU where he majored in Business Management with an emphasis in banking and finance. After his first year at BYU, he was called on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in the Eastern Atlantic States. He loved teaching the gospel and he learned how to study which helped him at school when he returned home. Jim was always active in the church and served in many callings in his short life.
The summer after his mission, he went to work for Savage Brothers Inc. Neal Savage was a great mentor, boss, and friend for many years and financially supported part of Jim's mission. Jim operated a heavy-duty loader at a construction site in Ogden. He also worked for his brother, Max, building boat seats and upholstering the inside of boats.
During his junior year at BYU, Jim married Susan Smith, daughter of Leland and Joyce Smith, on June 17 in the Salt Lake Temple. While in his senior year, Jim received his first draft notice so he applied for a deferment to finish his last year of college. A day or two after graduation, he went to the draft board office and they were preparing his second draft notice. He had always dreamed of flying airplanes but the Air Force had no openings for pilots. However, the Marines needed pilots so he was sworn into the Marines the next day and put on deferred enlistment.
After a short time with General Foods as a sales representative, he started his basic training and officer candidate school in Quantico, Virginia, and then on to pilot training at Vance Air Force base in Enid, Oklahoma. After pilot training, he was stationed at Cherry Point Naval Air Station to learn how to fly like the Navy, including training to fly on an aircraft carrier. At Cherry Point, he also learned to fly the A-6 Intruder. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and then to Captain just before he received orders to serve in Vietnam.
In 1972, Jim flew several missions a week in Vietnam as part of the war effort. On December 27, 1972, Jim's plane was shot down over North Vietnam and he and his navigator, Ron Forrester, were listed as missing in action. This past July 2023, while a recovery team was investigating a crash site in Vietnam, they found Jim's dog tags and some remains that were positively identified as belonging to Captain Ralph Jim Chipman. After more than 50 years, part of Jim is being returned to American Fork where he grew up.
Jim is survived by his wife, Susan Richards, and his two sons, Scot Lee Chipman and Matthew Curtis Chipman.
******************
.
In Memory of ....... Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman.
**** The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today [Aug. 9, 2023] that U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ralph J. Chipman, killed during Vietnam was accounted for Aug. 2, 2023.
In the winter of 1972, Chipman was assigned to Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533, Marine Attack Group 12, 1st Marine Air Wing. On Dec. 27, Chipman was piloting an A-6A Intruder, along with his co-pilot, during a nighttime combat mission over the northern part of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam. After entering the target area, Chipman's aircraft ceased radio communications and never returned to base. Search and rescue teams could not locate any trace of the aircraft or the crew in the Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province. In July 1974, the Marine Corps reported Capt. Chipman as Killed in Action.
Capt Chipman is honored on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington DC; name inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 01w, Line 106.
In Memory of ....... Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman.
*** The AMERICAN FORK CEMETERY is located at: 100 East and 650 North in American Fork, Utah, Utah. The Following is a Memorial "Dedicated to those Veterans of American Fork memorialized around the world" Capt. Ralph Jim CHIPMAN, fighter pilot USMC missing in action Vietnam 1972.
*** the family put a plaque in front of the Provo City Library and planted a tree in Chipman's honor in Robinson Park in American Fork, Utah.
*** *** Honolulu Memorial - His name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial (Find a Grave Memorial ID: 153542697).
You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in those who knew you. You will live on because we remember you!
RALPH JIM CHIPMAN - Marine Corps - CAPT - O3
Age: 30
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Aug 15, 1943
From: OREM, UT
Religion: LATTER DAY SAINTS, MORMON
Marital Status: Married - Susan Richards Chipman. Has remarried. They had two (2) sons. Parents: Father, Curtis Thorton Chipman, Born Jan. 13, 1918 and Died Oct. 23, 2008 and Mother, Fay LaRue Fullmer Chipman, Born July 23, 1921 and Died Oct. 5, 2006. Brother, Max Curtis Chipman, Born July 15, 1940 and Died March 24, 2013. Paternal Grandparents, Elmer Parker & Ferne Thornton Chipman. Maternal Grandparents, Ralph & Emma Katrina Nelson Fullmer.
***** Eddieb, I just wanted to thank you for adding the memorial for Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman. I was honored to see the information on him and am grateful for his and his family's sacrifice.
Thank you so much for sharing,
~from a Jim's distant cousin
***** Today is December 27th 2007. It happened so long ago on this same day. I try to remember him each time on the 27th if for a just a short moment. I was the pilot of the flight behind him that night. I returned, he didn't. I am so sorry.
Harry Trauffer
Capt USMC
Powder Springs, Ga 30127
His tour began on Dec 27, 1972
Casualty was on December 27, 1972
In NORTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered
Panel 01W - Line 106
Other Personnel in Incident: Ronald W. Forrester (missing)
Captain Ralph J. Chipman was the pilot of an Intruder assigned a mission over North Vietnam on December 27, 1972. His co-pilot on the flight was First Lieutenant Ronald W. Forrester.
The aircraft did not return from the mission, and last contact was made with the crew over the target area.
A subsequent article in Quan Doi Nhan Dan, a daily Vietnamese newspaper described an aircraft downed by the Vietnamese.
Apparently the pilot was reported to be dead, and possibly the co-pilot as well. Although this article was thought to possibly relate to Chipman and Forrester, it was not definite enough for proof of death.
Both men were classified Missing in Action.
Captain Chipman and Captain Forrester have not been repatriated.
**********************************************
Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman, shot down Dec. 26, 1972, during a bombing run on a Vietnamese supply train.
Jim Chipman and Susan Richards grew up in the same Orem neighborhood. Jim was four years older and didn't pay much attention to her, but she paid attention to him.
"He was the one that I looked at and wanted to marry for a long time," she said. "I always had a crush on him." He returned from an LDS mission about the time she graduated from high school. They'd been married almost three years when he joined the Marines so he wouldn't be drafted. He went to officers candidate school and flight school, then started flying A-6 aircrafts. He was flying one during a night bombing run of a supply train in Vietnam. An air traffic controller cleared his plane into the target area as Chipman honed in on the enemy's supplies.
That was the last contact Capt. Chipman had with the United States. His plane was shot down and disappeared into the jungles of Vietnam. No trace of the plane, the navigator or the pilot have ever been found.
Richards, who lived in Orem with the couple's two sons, opened the door a few days after Christmas to the most unwelcome surprise in the world. "I opened the door and there was a Marine and my bishop," she said. "Then it just hit me what I was looking at." She seized on the fact that they hadn't found his body and continued to hope that he was a prisoner of war, but as the months passed, she accepted that her husband was not coming home. Years later, the military found an article in a Vietnamese newspaper discussing shooting down planes in that area, and Chipman's plane was the only one shot down during that time, which confirmed that. "After months, not knowing was worse than knowing the worst, which I never thought would be the case," she said.
She has since remarried but remembers her first husband with pride; in the years after his disappearance, the family put a plaque in front of the Provo City Library and planted a tree in Chipman's honor in Robinson Park in American Fork. She never would have chosen the ending, but she wasn't sorry Chipman joined the military.
The biggest struggle through the years was the grief. The difficulty she ran into, besides losing her husband, never recovering his body and having two young sons, was that she couldn't talk to many people about Jim, not when he'd died fighting in a war most of the country didn't want. "Part of the healing process for people that lose someone, I believe, is you just want to talk about him," Richards said. "Nobody wanted to talk about Vietnam after it ended."
Today, she's glad to see people welcoming soldiers back, recognizing their sacrifice and thanking them for their service. "All Jim did was do what the president of the United States told him to do; it wasn't his decision," she said. "People that came home alive were treated like criminals, like they did something wrong. I'm glad we've learned better."
She and a friend are gathering stories for a book on how soldiers going to war affected the wives and children they left behind. Anyone interested in submitting their experiences can contact her at [email protected].
*************************
Please add this to his memorial page. Thanks so much, Arlene
Ralph Jim Chipman was born on August 15, 1943, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Curtis and Faye Chipman. He was the second son in a family of four boys; Max, Jim, Kenneth Ray, and Joe. In Jim's own words, his life was filled with hard work, close family ties, and lots of wonderful experiences. When he was only a year and a half old, the family moved to American Fork to the farm that had been owned by Jim's grandpa, Elmer Chipman. They raised turkeys, chickens, sheep, grain, peas, and sugar beets. While Jim was at home, he always had farm chores to do after school which often kept him out of trouble and taught him to work hard.
Jim attended elementary school in American Fork, American Fork Junior High, and graduated from American Fork High School. Jim lettered in tennis at the high school but his first love was basketball. He wasn't tall enough to play high school ball, but he played church basketball and was known for his long shots, even from the half-court line. Their ward team competed in the regional finals, which in those days was a big deal.
After high school graduation, Jim enrolled at BYU where he majored in Business Management with an emphasis in banking and finance. After his first year at BYU, he was called on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in the Eastern Atlantic States. He loved teaching the gospel and he learned how to study which helped him at school when he returned home. Jim was always active in the church and served in many callings in his short life.
The summer after his mission, he went to work for Savage Brothers Inc. Neal Savage was a great mentor, boss, and friend for many years and financially supported part of Jim's mission. Jim operated a heavy-duty loader at a construction site in Ogden. He also worked for his brother, Max, building boat seats and upholstering the inside of boats.
During his junior year at BYU, Jim married Susan Smith, daughter of Leland and Joyce Smith, on June 17 in the Salt Lake Temple. While in his senior year, Jim received his first draft notice so he applied for a deferment to finish his last year of college. A day or two after graduation, he went to the draft board office and they were preparing his second draft notice. He had always dreamed of flying airplanes but the Air Force had no openings for pilots. However, the Marines needed pilots so he was sworn into the Marines the next day and put on deferred enlistment.
After a short time with General Foods as a sales representative, he started his basic training and officer candidate school in Quantico, Virginia, and then on to pilot training at Vance Air Force base in Enid, Oklahoma. After pilot training, he was stationed at Cherry Point Naval Air Station to learn how to fly like the Navy, including training to fly on an aircraft carrier. At Cherry Point, he also learned to fly the A-6 Intruder. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and then to Captain just before he received orders to serve in Vietnam.
In 1972, Jim flew several missions a week in Vietnam as part of the war effort. On December 27, 1972, Jim's plane was shot down over North Vietnam and he and his navigator, Ron Forrester, were listed as missing in action. This past July 2023, while a recovery team was investigating a crash site in Vietnam, they found Jim's dog tags and some remains that were positively identified as belonging to Captain Ralph Jim Chipman. After more than 50 years, part of Jim is being returned to American Fork where he grew up.
Jim is survived by his wife, Susan Richards, and his two sons, Scot Lee Chipman and Matthew Curtis Chipman.
******************
.
**** The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today [Aug. 9, 2023] that U.S. Marine Corps Captain Ralph J. Chipman, killed during Vietnam was accounted for Aug. 2, 2023.
In the winter of 1972, Chipman was assigned to Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533, Marine Attack Group 12, 1st Marine Air Wing. On Dec. 27, Chipman was piloting an A-6A Intruder, along with his co-pilot, during a nighttime combat mission over the northern part of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam. After entering the target area, Chipman's aircraft ceased radio communications and never returned to base. Search and rescue teams could not locate any trace of the aircraft or the crew in the Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province. In July 1974, the Marine Corps reported Capt. Chipman as Killed in Action.
Capt Chipman is honored on the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington DC; name inscribed at VVM Wall, Panel 01w, Line 106.
In Memory of ....... Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman.
*** The AMERICAN FORK CEMETERY is located at: 100 East and 650 North in American Fork, Utah, Utah. The Following is a Memorial "Dedicated to those Veterans of American Fork memorialized around the world" Capt. Ralph Jim CHIPMAN, fighter pilot USMC missing in action Vietnam 1972.
*** the family put a plaque in front of the Provo City Library and planted a tree in Chipman's honor in Robinson Park in American Fork, Utah.
*** *** Honolulu Memorial - His name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial (Find a Grave Memorial ID: 153542697).
You may be gone, no longer living on this earth; but you will live on - in the memories of your family and friends. There will always be a part of you living in those who knew you. You will live on because we remember you!
RALPH JIM CHIPMAN - Marine Corps - CAPT - O3
Age: 30
Race: Caucasian
Date of Birth Aug 15, 1943
From: OREM, UT
Religion: LATTER DAY SAINTS, MORMON
Marital Status: Married - Susan Richards Chipman. Has remarried. They had two (2) sons. Parents: Father, Curtis Thorton Chipman, Born Jan. 13, 1918 and Died Oct. 23, 2008 and Mother, Fay LaRue Fullmer Chipman, Born July 23, 1921 and Died Oct. 5, 2006. Brother, Max Curtis Chipman, Born July 15, 1940 and Died March 24, 2013. Paternal Grandparents, Elmer Parker & Ferne Thornton Chipman. Maternal Grandparents, Ralph & Emma Katrina Nelson Fullmer.
***** Eddieb, I just wanted to thank you for adding the memorial for Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman. I was honored to see the information on him and am grateful for his and his family's sacrifice.
Thank you so much for sharing,
~from a Jim's distant cousin
***** Today is December 27th 2007. It happened so long ago on this same day. I try to remember him each time on the 27th if for a just a short moment. I was the pilot of the flight behind him that night. I returned, he didn't. I am so sorry.
Harry Trauffer
Capt USMC
Powder Springs, Ga 30127
His tour began on Dec 27, 1972
Casualty was on December 27, 1972
In NORTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was not recovered
Panel 01W - Line 106
Other Personnel in Incident: Ronald W. Forrester (missing)
Captain Ralph J. Chipman was the pilot of an Intruder assigned a mission over North Vietnam on December 27, 1972. His co-pilot on the flight was First Lieutenant Ronald W. Forrester.
The aircraft did not return from the mission, and last contact was made with the crew over the target area.
A subsequent article in Quan Doi Nhan Dan, a daily Vietnamese newspaper described an aircraft downed by the Vietnamese.
Apparently the pilot was reported to be dead, and possibly the co-pilot as well. Although this article was thought to possibly relate to Chipman and Forrester, it was not definite enough for proof of death.
Both men were classified Missing in Action.
Captain Chipman and Captain Forrester have not been repatriated.
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Capt. Ralph Jim Chipman, shot down Dec. 26, 1972, during a bombing run on a Vietnamese supply train.
Jim Chipman and Susan Richards grew up in the same Orem neighborhood. Jim was four years older and didn't pay much attention to her, but she paid attention to him.
"He was the one that I looked at and wanted to marry for a long time," she said. "I always had a crush on him." He returned from an LDS mission about the time she graduated from high school. They'd been married almost three years when he joined the Marines so he wouldn't be drafted. He went to officers candidate school and flight school, then started flying A-6 aircrafts. He was flying one during a night bombing run of a supply train in Vietnam. An air traffic controller cleared his plane into the target area as Chipman honed in on the enemy's supplies.
That was the last contact Capt. Chipman had with the United States. His plane was shot down and disappeared into the jungles of Vietnam. No trace of the plane, the navigator or the pilot have ever been found.
Richards, who lived in Orem with the couple's two sons, opened the door a few days after Christmas to the most unwelcome surprise in the world. "I opened the door and there was a Marine and my bishop," she said. "Then it just hit me what I was looking at." She seized on the fact that they hadn't found his body and continued to hope that he was a prisoner of war, but as the months passed, she accepted that her husband was not coming home. Years later, the military found an article in a Vietnamese newspaper discussing shooting down planes in that area, and Chipman's plane was the only one shot down during that time, which confirmed that. "After months, not knowing was worse than knowing the worst, which I never thought would be the case," she said.
She has since remarried but remembers her first husband with pride; in the years after his disappearance, the family put a plaque in front of the Provo City Library and planted a tree in Chipman's honor in Robinson Park in American Fork. She never would have chosen the ending, but she wasn't sorry Chipman joined the military.
The biggest struggle through the years was the grief. The difficulty she ran into, besides losing her husband, never recovering his body and having two young sons, was that she couldn't talk to many people about Jim, not when he'd died fighting in a war most of the country didn't want. "Part of the healing process for people that lose someone, I believe, is you just want to talk about him," Richards said. "Nobody wanted to talk about Vietnam after it ended."
Today, she's glad to see people welcoming soldiers back, recognizing their sacrifice and thanking them for their service. "All Jim did was do what the president of the United States told him to do; it wasn't his decision," she said. "People that came home alive were treated like criminals, like they did something wrong. I'm glad we've learned better."
She and a friend are gathering stories for a book on how soldiers going to war affected the wives and children they left behind. Anyone interested in submitting their experiences can contact her at [email protected].
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Please add this to his memorial page. Thanks so much, Arlene
Ralph Jim Chipman was born on August 15, 1943, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Curtis and Faye Chipman. He was the second son in a family of four boys; Max, Jim, Kenneth Ray, and Joe. In Jim's own words, his life was filled with hard work, close family ties, and lots of wonderful experiences. When he was only a year and a half old, the family moved to American Fork to the farm that had been owned by Jim's grandpa, Elmer Chipman. They raised turkeys, chickens, sheep, grain, peas, and sugar beets. While Jim was at home, he always had farm chores to do after school which often kept him out of trouble and taught him to work hard.
Jim attended elementary school in American Fork, American Fork Junior High, and graduated from American Fork High School. Jim lettered in tennis at the high school but his first love was basketball. He wasn't tall enough to play high school ball, but he played church basketball and was known for his long shots, even from the half-court line. Their ward team competed in the regional finals, which in those days was a big deal.
After high school graduation, Jim enrolled at BYU where he majored in Business Management with an emphasis in banking and finance. After his first year at BYU, he was called on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in the Eastern Atlantic States. He loved teaching the gospel and he learned how to study which helped him at school when he returned home. Jim was always active in the church and served in many callings in his short life.
The summer after his mission, he went to work for Savage Brothers Inc. Neal Savage was a great mentor, boss, and friend for many years and financially supported part of Jim's mission. Jim operated a heavy-duty loader at a construction site in Ogden. He also worked for his brother, Max, building boat seats and upholstering the inside of boats.
During his junior year at BYU, Jim married Susan Smith, daughter of Leland and Joyce Smith, on June 17 in the Salt Lake Temple. While in his senior year, Jim received his first draft notice so he applied for a deferment to finish his last year of college. A day or two after graduation, he went to the draft board office and they were preparing his second draft notice. He had always dreamed of flying airplanes but the Air Force had no openings for pilots. However, the Marines needed pilots so he was sworn into the Marines the next day and put on deferred enlistment.
After a short time with General Foods as a sales representative, he started his basic training and officer candidate school in Quantico, Virginia, and then on to pilot training at Vance Air Force base in Enid, Oklahoma. After pilot training, he was stationed at Cherry Point Naval Air Station to learn how to fly like the Navy, including training to fly on an aircraft carrier. At Cherry Point, he also learned to fly the A-6 Intruder. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and then to Captain just before he received orders to serve in Vietnam.
In 1972, Jim flew several missions a week in Vietnam as part of the war effort. On December 27, 1972, Jim's plane was shot down over North Vietnam and he and his navigator, Ron Forrester, were listed as missing in action. This past July 2023, while a recovery team was investigating a crash site in Vietnam, they found Jim's dog tags and some remains that were positively identified as belonging to Captain Ralph Jim Chipman. After more than 50 years, part of Jim is being returned to American Fork where he grew up.
Jim is survived by his wife, Susan Richards, and his two sons, Scot Lee Chipman and Matthew Curtis Chipman.
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