The late General Chapman never tired of telling about his 1970 conversation with Brigadier General James R. Jones (no kin of the incumbent Commandant of the Marine Corps), while plans were being made to bring the Marines back from South Vietnam.
In addition more than 100,000 Marines, tons of supplies and equipment had to be retrograded, and one determinant of the difficulty of the task would be the bottom limit on the value of gear to be taken out. If anything worth less than, say, $50 could be left behind, the task would be much easier than one with a bottom limit of, say, $25. But when General Jones—commanding the massive Force Logistic Command that would spearhead the movement of all this gear—received his guidance from the Commandant, he was in for a shock: Everything worth five dollars or more would have to come out.
"But, General—" he protested. "That could take the best part of a year…"
"Then that's how long your tour will be," Chapman replied gently.
On 14 April 1971, the headquarters of III Marine Amphibious Force was reestablished on Okinawa. Three days later, Brigadier General Jones walked into the Commandant's office in the Pentagon's Navy Annex and deposited the last five-dollar spare part on General Chapman's desk.
The task was complete. General Jones was relieved of command—and later would be rewarded with a second star.