(Note: Though a poppy does not appear on the street sign, this street is part of the City of London's "Streets of Honour" program and was named for Flight Sergeant Chapman)
Chapman Court is named in memory of Flight Sergeant Kenneth Frank Chapman.
Kenneth Frank Chapman was born on 28 March 1926 in London, ON. He attended Wortley Road Public School and South Collegiate. When he reached the age of service, Chapman enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, earning his air gunner’s wings on 21 April 1944. Soon afterwards, he was assigned to No. 153 Squadron, RAF, flying Lancaster bombers from Scampton, England. On 22 April 1945, No. 153 Squadron’s mission was to attack the north German port of Bremen. The squadron aircraft were returning to their airfield when Chapman’s bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The aircraft broke apart in mid-air and the entire seven-man crew was killed. Flight Sergeant Chapman had just completed his 24th mission and in a twist of fate, his squadron’s last operational sortie was a few days later on the 25th of April.
Initially interred in the nearby cemetery at Altendeich, the crew was later exhumed and reburied in the Becklingen War Cemetery at Soltau Germany. Flight Sergeant Kenneth Frank Chapman was 19 years old.
