Fort Lewis, Wash. — Hundreds of soldiers and family members stood in drizzling rain Thursday to remember Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman, the first American killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan.
"It deeply saddens me today, but we now have a new hero," said Col. David T. Fridovich, commander of the 1st Special Forces Group at Fort Lewis.
Maj. Gen. Geoffrey C. Lambert leans down to embrace Renae Chapman as her daughter Amanda, 2, sits on her lap at a memorial service for Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman. Fellow soldiers, family and friends honored Chapman on Thursday at Fort Lewis, Wash. Chapman was the first American soldier killed by enemy fire in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
In a ceremony, Chapman was awarded military honors and his name was added to a granite memorial of other members of the Special Forces who have died.
Chapman, 31, a married father of two from nearby Puyallup, was killed Jan. 4 by small-arms fire during an ambush near Khost, a few miles from the Pakistan border. He and a CIA agent, who was wounded, had been meeting with local tribal leaders.
His widow, Renae, his parents and his children attended the ceremony in a small cul-de-sac in front of Special Forces headquarters. The circle, which had been named Commander's Circle, was renamed Chapman Circle in the slain soldier's honor.
Renae Chapman accepted the combat infantryman's badge, the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. She held back tears as her 2-year-old daughter sat, wrapped in a blanket, on her lap.
Fridovich said Chapman eagerly answered the call to serve.
"Try and remember not where you were on Sept. 11, but how you felt," Fridovich told mourners. "Here, as in other U.S. military units, we reflected the same emotions as the rest of America, but almost immediately began to ask the following: What do you want us to do and where do you want us to go to begin to fix this problem?
"By envisioning this, you begin to understand the motivation that drives men such as Nathan Chapman."
Chapman volunteered for the duty. He was a Green Beret communications specialist who parachuted into Panama during the U.S. invasion there and served in Haiti and the Gulf War.
After graduating from Special Forces school at Fort Bragg, N.C., he spent most of his career at Fort Lewis, where he was assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, he was reassigned to the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Chapman's parents, Will and Lynn, left their home in Georgetown, Tex., to comfort Chapman's widow and children, 2-year-old Amanda and 1-year-old Brandon.
A funeral service was scheduled for today.
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