Chance Phelps

Chance Phelps was 19-years-old when he was killed in combat operations just outside of Baghdad, Iraq on April 9, 2004. Lt. Col. Michael Strobl volunteered to escort PFC Phelps home to their common hometown, Dubois, Wyoming. An HBO movie has been made of Lt. Col. Strobl’s account of his experience, Taking Chance. Read the full text of Strobl’s article below, see photos and a video of the Taking Chance movie trailer.

It is with a mixture of pride and sorrow that I’ve read the story of PFC Chance Phelps. Sadness because of a life cut tragically short. Pride for a life well lived, the American spirit this young man represents and the legacy he left behind. All of the feelings are felt through tears as I read the story of his homecoming below.

Private First Class Chance Phelps was just 19-years-old when he was killed in combat in just west of Baghdad, Iraq. I believe it is the same area of Iraq my son was in for 15 horrible months. He killed by a gunshot wound on April 9, 2004. He was assigned to 3Bn, 11th Marines, an artillery unit functioning as a provisional infantry battalion during Operation Iraqi Freedom 2 in support of the Global War on Terrorism.