Leonard F. Chapman Jr.
24th Commandant of the Marine Corps (1913–2000)
Leonard Fielding Chapman Jr. (November 3, 1913 – January 6, 2000) was a United States Marine Corps general who served as the 24th Commandant of the Marine Corps from 1968 to 1972. He was a World War II combat veteran, decorated for his actions in the Battle of Peleliu and the Battle of Okinawa. He retired from the Marine Corps after 37 years of service. In retirement, he served as the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Early life
Chapman was born in Key West, Florida, on November 3, 1913, and graduated from high school and had a 4.0 GPA in DeLand, Florida. In 1931, he entered the University of Florida, where he became a member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps unit for four years, was initiated into Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, and was tapped into the Florida Blue Key leadership honorary. Upon graduation in June 1935, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.
Military career
After completing The Basic School at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Chapman served with the 1st Battalion, 10th Marines at Quantico, Virginia, from April 1936 until August 1937. In June 1938, after completing Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, he was assigned to the 10th Marines at Marine Corps Base, San Diego, California.
The public source identifies “Leonard F. Chapman Jr.” as 24th Commandant of the Marine Corps (1913–2000). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Leonard, Chapman and 24th.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1818968. VIAF identifies the subject as 61093255. The Library of Congress control number is no00074579. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1913, 2000, 1968 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Leonard F. Chapman Jr.” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.