First-Person Account of the Chapman, Kansas, Tornado

I have always had a special love for the small town of Chapman, Kansas. In the late 1990s, I was an active-duty Army soldier stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. On a rare Thursday "Sergeant's Time" trip to visit the Eisenhower birthplace in Abilene, our bus drove past a sign for Chapman, Kansas on Interstate 70. My best friend's last name is Chapman, so on the very next Saturday, I went down and got a post office box in the town, as a joke. This was still the days before digital cameras and cell phones that could take pictures, so sending letters to my friend from a post office box in a town by the same name was the best I could do.

I left the Army in 2000 and moved on with my life. In 2006, we moved to a town that is a few hours away from Fort Riley. I travel to Fort Riley and Topeka often on business, so I get to visit my old haunts. On June 11, 2008, I was on another of these business trips to the Sunflower State's largest military installation. I had driven past Chapman around 2:00 in the afternoon, as I traveled east on Interstate 70. Because I was tired and needed a break from driving (and feeling a lot sentimental), I pulled off of the interstate, and stopped in Chapman. I drove through town, waved at my old post office box at the post office, grabbed a soda at the little 2-pump gas station north of town, and headed back on my way. Little did I know that that would be my last time to see Chapman as I remembered it. I settled in to my room at Fort Riley and set up my laptop to do some surfing. I figured the night would be like hundreds of other nights I spent while still in the Army at Fort Riley - long and boring. I was in for a surprise.

Around 10:00 pm, my mother called me from her home in Indiana, in hysterics, wondering where my son was attending Scout Camp. I finally got her calmed down long enough for her to tell me the devastating story happening in Iowa. I soothed her hysterics, assuring her over and over that he is still safe in Oklahoma, and ended our conversation. I then turned on CNN to see what was going on. As I was flipping through the cable channels, I landed on one of the local stations - WIBW out of Topeka - and saw that a large tornado had just rocked the south side of Salina. I then knew that my night would not be boring at all.

I watched the weather updates on television until they said that Chapman had taken a direct hit from the tornado. I took off and headed for cover. For a minute, I wondered if I'd make it - the reports of the tornado had the storm moving very fast eastward. Thankfully, most of the century-old buildings on post have basements, so I was able to take shelter underground. I waited about an hour with no type of communication except the other people in the basement with me. Cell phones don't work under a two-story limestone building, and no one had thought to bring a radio or portable television. Once we got the all-clear, I headed back to my room and once again turned on my laptop for a connection with the outside world. I was sad to see that my old alma mater, Kansas State University, had also suffered a direct hit.

I spent the rest of the night in fear of another brush with a tornado, so I didn't sleep well. After my meetings this morning, I had to take the long way home since Interstate 70 was closed west of Fort Riley. This added about 2 hours onto my trip home, but I didn't mind. There are 6 families out there today that would give anything for their loved ones to still be here with them to worry about such trivial matters as detours on the interstate. When I got home I hugged my family and prayed for those who are hurting. Though we all understand that tornadoes are a possibility when one lives in Tornado Alley, and we are always prepared, no one ever wants to experience such great devastation.