The Milwaukee Press Club inducted OPC member Dickey Chapelle into its Hall of Fame on Oct. 24.
Chapelle died in a landmine explosion during Operation Black Ferret near Chu Lai on Nov. 4, 1965. She was the first American correspondent killed in Vietnam, and the first American woman journalist to be killed in combat.
Chapelle served on the OPC’s Freedom of Information Committee and testified to Congress to push for greater access for journalists and to loosen official restraints against them.
She won the OPC’s George Polk Award in 1962 for her coverage of Vietnam.
OPC President Marcus Mabry sent a letter to the Milwaukee Press Club saluting Chapelle’s induction into the Hall of Fame.
“Dickey was one of us, an involved OPC board member and an outspoken advocate for reporters trying to tell readers and listeners at home what was going on in Hungary, Cuba, Vietnam, and all those other places she traveled to, wrote about and photographed,” Mabry wrote in the letter.
Longtime OPC member Sibby Christensen wrote about Chapelle’s legacy in an article recounting her experience as former editor for the Bulletin.
Click below to read a copy of the OPC letter.