The truth the Navy SEALs couldn't handle
The controversy over John Chapman's Medal of Honor is casting a shadow over a $270 million set to open in Texas
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All Lori Chapman Longfritz has ever wanted was for the Navy SEALs to tell her what really happened to her brother. “That’s all any family wants is the truth,” Longfritz says.
At first, they told her that her brother, Air Force Master Sergeant John Chapman, had died instantly during a 2002 SEAL operation. The truth, she learned later, was that her brother had been badly wounded but fought on for more than an hour after the SEALs had left him for dead on a snow-covered peak in Afghanistan.
The SEALs initially recognized Chapman as a hero and put him on their Wall of Honor, a rare honor for someone outside the brotherhood. The team l…