(Bronze star w/ V Device, Purple heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Good Conduct MEdal, National Defense Service Medal, OIF Campaign Medal, GWOT Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon)

Camp Pendleton Marine killed in Iraq

DUBOIS, Wyo. — Pfc. Chance Phelps, a Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based Marine killed in Iraq last week will be buried in his former Wyoming hometown, a friend said Monday.

Phelps, 19, of Clifton, Colo., will be buried in Dubois, said Ed Wilkerson, a friend of the family and commander of the VFW chapter in Dubois. No date was set. Phelps died in gunfire Friday while battling insurgents west of Baghdad, according to his father, John Phelps, who lives in Dubois. The Department of Defense confirmed Phelps’ death Monday. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Pendleton, Calif. His mother, Gretchen Mack, said she learned of her son’s death when two Marines showed up at her door at 2 a.m. Saturday. “I don’t think anything can prepare you for two young men standing in the living room telling you your son’s been killed,” Mack said. “It’s just surreal. They were crying.”  She last talked to her son last Wednesday night.  “He said, ‘Mom, I’m fine.’ He sounded great,” she said. “It was really good to be able to talk to him. It made us feel better.” Members of the Colorado House of Representatives observed a moment of silence for Phelps on Monday at the request of two lawmakers from Grand Junction, Colo.  Mack said her son drew people to him with his humor.

“He had an unusual amount of zest,” she said. “He just possessed this quality that he had to be in the thick of things all the time. He was very, very positive, very funny. ... His main thing in life was making people laugh.”

The young man also loved to hunt and fish and spent summers with his father in Dubois. “He was very in tune politically,” said Mack, who lives in Riverton. “He knew what he wanted for this country. ... He told me after 9/11, ‘I absolutely have to go. I’ve got to do something.”’ Joining the military isn’t anything new for the family. John Phelps is a Vietnam veteran. Chance Phelps’ sister, Kelley, 22, works at the Pentagon and is engaged to an Army sergeant.

Chance Phelps spent his early years in Dubois, then moved to Craig, Colo., while in grade school. His mother was married to Craig resident Guy Whitlock for eight years. After the marriage ended, she moved to Palisade, Colo., where Phelps graduated from high school last year.

“He was a great kid,” Whitlock said. “Everybody liked him. He was an athlete, an avid hunter and he liked the outdoors. He liked all the things that Moffat County had to offer.” Sometime during high school, Phelps decided he wanted to be a soldier, “especially after 9/11,” Whitlock said. “I’m very proud of him.” Friends recall Phelps as a fun-loving, hard-nosed kid. He was big but didn’t throw his size around to intimidate people, said Jarod Estey, 19, of Craig. “He was probably the toughest kid I knew growing up in grade school. He was probably the biggest kid, too — well-built and strong,” he said. “But he was real easy going. He always had a smile on his face.”

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Memorial Day 2005
From left: Cpl Montesinos, Cpl Arias, LCpl Fisk, LCpl Saucier, Cpl Halfmann, and Sgt Cooper - from Lima Battery Marines of 3d Bn, 11th Marines drove 1,000 miles from 29 Palms, California to Dubois, Wyoming to pay respects to LCpl Chance Phelps and his family.

Marine’s Wyoming hometown in shock at his death

DUBOIS, Wyo. — Residents who knew a Marine killed in Iraq are in shock, said a woman who once provided daycare for the family. Pfc. Chance R. Phelps, 19, was shot in the head April 9 while battling insurgents in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, according to his father, John Phelps, who lives in Dubois. Chance Phelps was deployed to Iraq just over a month ago with the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division based in California. “I can’t even comprehend what John’s going through,” said Gay Baker, who cared for Chance when he was a preschooler. “It’s such a heartache, such a shock. What a tragedy.” Chance moved with his mother to Colorado while still in grade school, Baker said. He attended high school in Craig, Colo., before transferring to Palisade, Colo., as a senior, graduating in 2003. Phelps handled the transition to the new school handily, said Jan Norell, a gym teacher. “It’s really hard for a kid to do, to fit in and make an impact,” she said. He joined the football team and earned a letter. “He was so proud of his letterman jacket and his varsity letter,” she said. In football, Phelps became friends with teammate John Hakes, who remembers him as “kind of like a country boy.” “He was always doing something goofy,” said Hakes. “He always had a smile on his face. He brought camaraderie more than anything.” Hakes followed Phelps into the Marines and expects to be deployed to Iraq this fall. “I thought we were both invincible, that nothing could touch us,” said Hakes. He said he was asked to be an honorary pallbearer at his friend’s funeral.

The family was waiting for Phelps’ body to be returned before scheduling services, said Ed Wilkerson, a friend of the family and commander of the VFW chapter in Dubois.

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The following e-mail is the true account of what happened april 9th 2004, when lcpl chance phelps was kia in al anbar iraq. it was written by Brigadier general john kelly 12 days after the ambush and in response to ltcol mike strobl's story, taking chance, which is now being made into a movie of the same name by hbo .

From:   Kelly BGen John F

Sent:   Wednesday, April 21, 2004 5:38 AM

To:   Strobl LtCol Michael R

Subject:   Trip Report

Mike,

I just read your trip report forwarded to me by CO, 11 th Marines, and having done the kind of duty you report about I know the emotions and pride.  I was with the Marine you escorted, nearly right next to him, when he was killed instantly along side a road named ASR San Juan.  The closest village is Jurf as Sakhr, and it sits right on the Euphrates River with Fallujah 25kms to the N, and Baghdad perhaps 45 to the NNE.  This is an ugly little section of Iraq and full of extremists that hate us for some reason.  Don't know why, but that's the way it is.  We were in five vehicles and were caught in a complex ambush.  They initiated it with an IED that caught the lead vehicle, disabled it, and wounded two of the three Marines inside.  After the IED there was immediate massed MG, AK, RPG, and mortar fire that certainly defined for me the term “withering.”  The second vehicle was also caught in the kill zone, but they it did a 180 and out – two WIA aboard from the initial volley.  The third vehicle was outside the KZ, but seeing #1 disabled and the Marines in extremis drove in, dismounted, set up a base fire, and started to work the comms. The other vehicles dismounted outside the KZ and began to seek the flank of the ambush.  Your Marine's vehicle was called forward to try and close the back door and prevent the guerrillas escape so we could kill them, and after accomplishing the maneuver and putting his gun in action, he was hit.  Over time we shot our way out of it.  We collected up wounded, dead, and all equipment from the destroyed HMMWV, then walked out of the KZ shooting the entire time until we were clear.  All the Marines in the patrol did what we trained them to do, did it instinctively, and as if they were born to it.  Every one of them returned fire, moved to the sound of the guns, and took action.  There was certainly nothing special about any of  them, by the way, other than they were MARINES.

Your charge started this return home with the same kind of reverence and honor you describe in your trip report, only in a very, very different way.  When we rushed into the combat base in Mahmudiyah it wasn't for him, we knew he was already with God, but for the WIAs we had aboard.  The entire camp knew he was with us, however, and they all stood tall and were proud to simply be in the same shit hole with him and doing what they joined to do.  The Navy Docs went right to it with the WIAs and saved lives, at the same time we removed him from the vehicle it's turret having been immediately manned by another Marine who'd himself been hit in the face, but pressed with the mission and the gun never went quiet in the process.  The dead Marine, only just out of high school last May, was of course filthy dirty and his uniform vastly different than the one you saw him in. He obviously was not wearing any ribbons, but did have his flak and all the other accoutrements of a field Marine on when we removed him.  He was also still soaked from the unbelievable sweating a fight brings on.  His buddies spent a few quiet moments and we talked about the loss, and what he meant – what he was like – to them all.  Everyone offered a vignette, most were silly or funny, but that's the kind of guy he was.  We then withdrew as there was a detailed critique to conduct (actions on contact, who did what, what worked, what didn't work, what could have done better, and all the what ifs that go with learning the trade and getting better), and then the platoon commander (himself quite a guy) got right to it as there were also weapons to clean, and preps to be made for the next patrol.  Life goes on doesn't it.  This all took place, by the way, at about 1500 local on Good Friday.  Thought you should know the rest of the story.  Thanks for taking care of our Marine.

Semper Fidelis,

Kelly

A fellow Marine of Chance Phelps in Iraq, knew first hand of Chances' final stance and wrote the following in an email to the family. This was also written in response to ltcol strobl's story taking chance.

What LtCol Strobl doesn't mention in his paper are some small details.  PFC Phelps' unit was ambushed at about 1330 on Good Friday.  Phelps was manning a heavy machine gun and returned enemy fire.   The fight continued for another fifteen minutes with Phelps continuing to man his gun and return fire until PFC Phelps was mortally wounded .  His small convoy had fought its way through the killing zone of the ambush, had killed over a dozen attackers, with the loss of Phelps and others wounded.  

The survival of Phelps' unit is largely attributed to his actions on that day and the way he refused to be evacuated and continued to man his gun.  The point being that he made the conscious decision to continue fighting.  Why?  Because his buddies were in harms' way and he felt he couldn't let them down.  

So, why is PFC Phelps' and the essay by LtCol Strobl so important to me?  Let me put it to you like this:  there is a small, hand painted memorial in the compound where I live, dedicated to PFC Phelps.  To so many others his is just a name on a casualty list.  Faceless.  Without meaning.  Only a name.  He lived right next door to me.  We spoke on occasion.  I didn't know him well, but he was a brother nonetheless, so his loss is just as personal and painful.  He was a hero in the truest sense of the word.  Never forget...

Semper Fi Chance