Major Peter Chapla

Honesdale, PA

I am a Marine no longer in uniform and the oldest son of LtCol Daniel B. Chapla, USMC (Ret) and wanted to share with the extended Marine Corps family my father's courage and exemplary strength as a father, husband and as a Marine. My dad, Dan Chapla, is a long term patient in the Veterans Administration Medical Center nursing home in Washington, D.C. He is in the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease and has taught me many valuable lessons in personal and moral courage over the past three years as the disease has taken a toll on his body. His mind and spirit, true to the Marine that he is, has remained remarkably strong despite the suffering he has endured. More importantly, I have never heard him utter one complaint. I have watched him suffer through countless painful tremors from his disease, but yet, he never complained. Dan Chapla is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy (Class of 1959) and a retired artillery officer. He is the one who inspired me to be a Marine Corps officer from a very early age, and the picture I have attached here is how I remember him when he returned home from Vietnam in April of 1968 when I was in the first grade. He commissioned me in 1983 and later promoted me to Major when I was in the Reserve. He is a profile in courage to me, and I am grateful for his love, passion for life and family, and inspiring me to learn what it means to be a Marine, father, husband and educator. We are close, and we share the same birthday, August 3rd. He is my definition of a leader by personal example. If you ever are in Washington, D.C., stop by the VA Medical Center on West Irving Street, NW, and say hello to one helluva human being and enthusiastic Navy football fan - he is in room H140 in the nursing home wing of the VA Hospital. Semper Fi, Pete Chapla Proud son of a great Marine