Oftentimes today, when a civilian runs across an active or retired member of the military, they will stop, shake the person’s hand, and say “Thank you for your service.” That’s usually returned by a warm smile and a “You’re welcome.” When someone thanked Major Roger Chaput for his military service, he simply replied, “It was my duty… I did it for the love of my country.”
Roger Chaput was a 1949 graduate of Nashua High School. He felt so strongly that the U.S. military was his calling in life, that he tried to join the Marines at 17. That didn’t work so he had to wait until his 18th birthday. He entered the US Marine Corps in February 1950, just in time for the Korean War which ran from June 1950 to July 1953. While there he served in a tank platoon and was awarded a Purple Heart. A bullet ricocheted off and entered his leg.
In between Korea and Vietnam, Chaput served as a recruiting officer working in Chelsea, MA. Then, in Vietnam, he served in the motor transport service. While home on leave, some of his friends tried to goad him into telling war stories – stories of shooting and the mayhem of war. Chaput would never open-up. He was very quiet about his time Vietnam and Korea. Like many veterans, it was just something left better in the past.
Chaput left the Marines in 1970. He could have done another tour of Vietnam; but he figured by then, he had six children who needed a father, and a wife who needed as husband. He went back to Nashua for a short time, then to Amherst. He worked at J.F. McElwain long enough to get a pension – then moved on to Arizona where he worked as a dispatcher for a ride-share company.
In 2000, Chaput met in Pahrump, NV, with other Marines from his Korean outfit to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Korean conflict. One of his friends, a Marine Lieutenant, a G. G. Sweet, who by that time was fairly well-to-do owning a chain of McDonalds franchises, established a memorial park there to honor those who fought in Korea.
Major Roger Chaput passed away in January, 2024 at 92 years old. “Thank you for your service, Major. We’ll take it from here.”
Thanks to Martha Fyffe, daughter of Major Chaput, for her help in compiling this information.
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