January 20, 2010

World War II veteran Clayton N. Chipman receives Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs Veteran Lifetime Achievement Award

Clayton Chipman receiving award from Board members

(MADISON) – In a ceremony during the January 15, 2010 meeting of the Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs at the Wisconsin Veterans Home in Union Grove, Clayton N. Chipman of Brookfield, Wisconsin was presented the Veteran Lifetime Achievement Award for December 2009. Due to inclement weather in December the Board meeting had been rescheduled for January 14-15, 2010.

Chipman was born in Milwaukee in 1926. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on February 27, 1944, took basic training at the San Diego Recruit Depot in California, and advanced infantry training at Camp Pendleton, CA.

He deployed to the South Pacific Theater on the USS Ranger in May 1944, to Maui, Hawaii where he joined the 4th Marine Division and participated in amphibious landing training as a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) specialist in both the Hawaiian and Marianas Islands; and on D-Day morning of February 19, 1945, he went ashore at Iwo Jima. After nine days of intense combat, he was wounded in action, becoming one of the seventy-five percent casualties sustained by the Division and he was evacuated to Schofield Barracks in Honolulu for treatment and recovery. After two and one-half months, he was reassigned to Saipan as a Military Policeman and participated for over six months in island-to-island search and destroy operations against residual enemy combatants. In early 1946, he returned stateside aboard the USS Breckenridge, along with 6,000 other service members. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Corporal at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Illinois on April 5, 1946. His military decorations include the Purple Heart, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, National Defense Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation, Sharpshooter Medal and from the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, the Marianas Service Medal.

Chipman took advantage of the G.I. Bill and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education at UW-Milwaukee and subsequently a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from UW-Madison to launch and sustain a nearly 32 year career in public education teaching fifth and sixth graders for over a dozen years, and he was an elementary school principal for 18 years. During his time at UW-Milwaukee he served as assistant baseball coach at West Allis Central High School and after his retirement, he was a member of a group of coaching volunteers who assisted semi-pro and small college football teams in the Milwaukee area. He is a life member of the Milwaukee Area Retired Teachers Association, a member of the Wisconsin Retired Educators Association, and a member of the Milwaukee Public Schools Administrators/Supervisors Council.

Recognizing the need to remember Purple Heart recipients who died in action and to give solace to their families, he formed a local committee to raise funds for a special Purple Heart Memorial Monument and assisted in its permanent placement at the Milwaukee County War Memorial, adjacent to the Fitch Plaza. In partnership with another Iwo Jima veteran, he planned and raised funds for the creation of a “Walk of Honor” at Veterans Park in West Allis, a Memorial for West Allis service members who lost their lives in the wars since WWI. He serves on several committees that present awards to veterans and citizens who have provided civic and/or patriotic service to Milwaukee area municipalities.

Chipman is the past President of the Milwaukee Chapter of the Marine 4th Division Association, Chair of the Marine Corps League Brookfield Middle School Patriotic Essay Contest, and is the past long-time Chair of the Marine Corps League Memorial Day Committee, which conducts an annual service at Wisconsin Memorial Park Cemetery in Brookfield. He coordinates the distribution of 4,200 flags for the Marine Corps League at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee each Memorial Day, organizes an annual breakfast for the coordinated activities of the Marquette Naval ROTC Instructor Staff, the Inspector Instructor Staff of the Milwaukee Marine Reserve Unit, and the members of the Marine Corps League Badger Detachment. He is a member of the Board of Deacons, serves as Sunday School Superintendent, and is a past church council member at Calvary Memorial Church in Wauwatosa.

He is a Life Member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Marine Corps League and serves as the Milwaukee Chapter’s Public Relations Director, the Marine 4th Division Association and has served as its National President, Vice President and Executive Secretary. He is a member of AMVETS and the Marine Corps League Funeral Honors Rifle Team, which has participated in nearly 1,200 Milwaukee Area military funerals; and he annually attends the Iwo Jima Veterans Survivors National Reunion.

The Veteran Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes living veterans who have compiled a record of exemplary service as a military service member, a veteran, and a citizen during the veteran’s lifetime. Chipman is the twelfth recipient of the Veteran Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Board, through a subcommittee consisting of three board members, appointed by the Board Chair, selects the recipients. Nominations are accepted from any Wisconsin resident, and the Board especially encourages submissions from Wisconsin veterans, veterans service organizations, county veterans service officers and other veterans groups.

There are up to six annual awards. Nominations may be submitted at any time during the year, but no later than the 15th of the month preceding the month of a Board meeting at which the presentation is to be made. For more information about the award, to include previous recipients, go to www.WisVets.com/BoardAward or call WDVA toll free 1-800-WIS-VETS (947-8387).