Fort Chaffee’s First Family

Nov 1, 2015 | People

[title subtitle=”words: Marla Cantrell
Images: courtesy Chaffee Historic District”][/title]

The long history of Fort Chaffee begins with an equally long name: Major General Adna Romanza Chaffee, Jr. Born in 1884, in Kansas, he died in 1941, in Boston, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He served in the U.S. Army for thirty-nine years, two months, and seventeen days, and was called the “Father of the Armored Force” for his role in developing the U.S. Army’s tank forces, a move he rightly predicted in 1927 would be key to winning future wars. He even had a tank (the M24 Chaffee) named after him. The one thing this military mastermind was not able to do was visit the fort that bears his name.

Fort Chaffee covered 72,000 acres, in and around the Fort Smith/Barling, Arkansas area, and was established as a training camp in September 1941. Major General Chaffee, Jr. died of cancer on August 22 of that year, the same day Nazi troops reached Leningrad, and just a few months before the U.S. entered World War II, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7. The fort has been used as, among other things, a German prisoner of war facility, a training site for field artillery, and a temporary home for 51,000 refugees from Southeast Asia, and later for 25,000 Cubans.

In 1995, the powers that be ordered the closure of Fort Chaffee, leased 65,000 acres to the Arkansas Army National Guard, and turned the remaining acreage (7,000+) over to local communities for redevelopment, a program overseen by the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority.

When the Major General died, his grandson, Adna Romanza Chaffee IV, who goes by Chad (his family combined the first two letters of Chaffee and the first two letters of Adna), was only two years old. He has a few pictures of his grandfather holding him, but no clear memories of his own. As he grew older, he heard the stories, not only about his grandfather but about his great-grandfather as well, who was also a decorated soldier.

It seems reasonable that Chad would find his footing in the military—his father was a West Point graduate—and he did, joining the Army Reserves in high school, and serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1968-1970 and again from 1971-1972. Many who returned home from that war did not receive a hero’s welcome. The War sent millions of Americans into service, taking the lives of 58,000 of them. Our involvement caused great discord at home, and anti-war demonstrations grew, one turning deadly at Kent State University after certain Ohio National Guard members opened fire, killing four students on May 4, 1970.

Even today, when Chad talks about that era, the memories are sharp with emotion. Many faced ridicule when they came home. “A lot of the soldiers were also dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but you had families, and you had to go on,” Chad says. For him, making a career in the military seemed like the right thing to do, and eventually he earned the rank of Sergeant Major. He met his wife, Gabrielle, when he was stationed in Germany, and brought her back to the States with him.

Now, retired and at home in Hinesville, Georgia, Chad still finds ways to serve. Its been forty years since the Vietnam war ended on April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell to the Communists. President Obama has been vocal about the way the vets were treated, saying this in 2012: “You were often blamed for a war you didn’t start, when you should have been commended for serving your country with valor.”

On June 19 of this year, Chad was able to take part in a “Welcome Home” tribute to Vietnam vets at Fort Stewart. “I was proud to help lead a formation of 500 vets on the parade field,” the Sergeant Major says. He describes the ceremony: the men from all over the country congregating on this piece of land in Georgia, the crowd cheering and waving flags.

“We had a tent for the disabled vets, with canes and walkers, and they looked at it and said, ‘We aren’t staying in this tent. We’re going to walk formation.’ You should have seen them come across the field as fast as they could. It’s hard to describe, but I’ll tell you, it meant so much.”

Lately, his attention has turned back to Arkansas, and the upcoming Veterans Day Parade at Chaffee Crossing Historic District on November 14. He and his wife will be bringing several family members, including two sons, two daughters, two sons-in-law, and his nephew.

The theme of the parade is “Welcome Home, Vietnam Veterans.” Those attending will be able to make signs that show support for vets, and the plan is to have this group escorted to a place of honor, after the parade, where they can be told what their service in Vietnam means to the country.

Chad is thrilled to be part of the Chaffee event. There is something about returning to this place that humbles him. He remembers his first trip to Chaffee, four years ago.”I thought about what it would have meant to my father, to be able to walk this land named after his father. I was close to my dad, so I can just imagine. And every day I say thank-you to the Arkansas National Guard for taking over so much of Fort Chaffee and maintaining it. It’s a great feeling knowing it’s still serving its purpose all this time since it began in the 1940s.”

He can’t wait to bring his children there, to show them this part of their legacy. For one of his sons, Daniel, it will be the second time he’s seen Fort Chaffee. The first time was when he parachuted in when he was with the 82nd Airborne Division. “We dropped into Rattlesnake Drop Zone on a rainy, nasty night, and we flew out the next day, so I didn’t see anything but deep woods and mud,” Daniel says.

Since Daniel was a child, he’s been interested in military history, and fascinated by his family’s role in it. “We have a slide, the kind you put in a projector, of [General George S.] Patton,[ Jr.] sitting in a chair, my grandfather on his knee, and my great-grandfather standing behind him.

“My great-granddaddy [and Fort Chaffee’s namesake] was Patton’s mentor. He taught him everything he knew about tank warfare. My great-granddaddy was in the Calvary in World War I and he was fascinated by tanks, and he sat down and wrote out the plan for tank warfare. Great-granddaddy died right before World War II started. So when Patton went around conquering places, from Egypt to the European Theater, he named places after him. You’ve got Chaffee Field, Chaffee Hall, Chaffee Lane, a place in France, because he loved the old man so much.

“And my great-great-grandfather [the first Adna Chaffee] was a wildcat. He was a fresh lieutenant at the Battle of Gettysburg, along with a blond-haired lieutenant named Custer. My great-great-grandfather and Ted Roosevelt were friends. They rode up San Juan Hill together. After Ted had been elected president, he put my great-great-grandfather in charge of the inauguration parade. There are pictures of it. Then he made him Chief of Staff of his army.

“Even as a kid, I knew I was going to be a soldier. Every first son in the Chaffee family, from the time the Army started in 1775, has been a soldier. I spent twenty-three years as a paratrooper. Recently I read a biography of my great-great-grandfather. It brings great pride. The history of my family always led me. There was a time that my dad and I were in the Army together, and that was something, being in uniform together.”

Daniel is looking forward to returning to the fort in the light of day, to be surrounded by other veterans, and to honor Vietnam vets, including his dad. As for his father, Chad is hoping for just one thing. He wants the younger generation (anyone under forty) to take one hour out of their lives and go to a Veterans Day ceremony, or an MIA/POW ceremony. “We’ve got to remember who’s making your life possible in 2015,” Chad says. “It bothers me that we’re not taking the time. We need to go to Arlington Cemetery. We need to go to places with historical significance.”

For the Chaffee family, this land in Arkansas that was set aside as a training ground for those getting ready to defend our country is of monumental significance. It is a reminder of their heritage, and of the cost of freedom, and of why serving their country has played such an important role in who they’ve always been.

 

Veterans Day Events at
Chaffee Crossing Historic District
November 14, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Veterans Parade begins at noon in the Historic District,
followed by the “Welcome Home, Vietnam Veterans”
ceremony, and the groundbreaking of the Veterans
Memorial Plaza at 7313 Terry Street, Fort Smith.

Military medals will be presented to two veterans.

Other activities: Food, music, kids’ activities, helicopter rides, free flu shots, and a coat and blanket drive for homeless veterans. The Vietnam Veterans Museum, Barbershop
Museum and the Museum of Chaffee History will be open.

Do South Magazine

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