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American Morning

Interview of Renae Chapman, Wife of Nathan Chapman

Aired January 09, 2002 - 09:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The body of Army Sergeant First Class Nathan Chapman arrived this morning at his home base in Fort Lewis, Washington. Yesterday, the Army released an interview taped with the widow of the fallen Green Beret, Renae Chapman.

We have already aired some portions of that very emotional interview, and now we would like to share with you a little bit more of what she had to say about her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENAE CHAPMAN, WIDOW OF NATHAN CHAPMAN: He said to me, right before he left, that he volunteered for this, and he could call it off if I said, and I asked him, "how important is it? Do you want to go?"

And he said, "yes. It is me. I have to go."

And I said, "well, that's okay, you know, our guys aren't dying over there. We have 4,000 Marines over there. They're not dying. You'll be okay. You'll come home."

And he said, "honey, there's a 50-50 chance I'm not coming home."

And I didn't understand that, because I thought, well he's just teaming up with all these other guys doing the same thing, fighting the same fight.

And I don't know what he was doing over there, but the day he left, we all cried and cried, and he gave me a full heart and we broke it, and he left.

He called me on the satellite phone and he said that he sees women and children being beaten with sticks, just for walking down the street, and a dog getting spat on, and he wasn't for any of that. He wanted to fight against that. And he didn't want any of it coming here. And it is here. And he wants to stop it.

And he found a group of men, like himself, that were willing to do the same thing, fight the same fight.

All these guys are men of honor, and they are all the same, and they all have families, and they're all leaving everyday knowing that each one of them could not come home to their babies.

I want them to remember him as a quiet professional who just wanted to change the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. NATHAN CHAPMAN, U.S. SPECIAL FORCES: I sure miss you guys. Nothing else going on here, just hanging out. Today is the 25th, 25th of January. Getting ready to go to Hawaii tomorrow, so nothing else to tell. Only thing that matters (ph), okay, is I love you. I love you sweet pea, I love you honey. I'll be back in a second.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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