Note: This article was originally published on April 19, 2004. We’re re-posting it now for our Colorado’s Fallen tribute.
Dubois, Wyo. – A Marine slain in Iraq was remembered as a friend, a
good son and a patriot proud to serve his country.
Hundreds of friends and family lined the streets in Dubois on
Saturday to say goodbye to Pfc. Chance Phelps, who was shot and
killed west of Baghdad on Good Friday when the convoy he was
protecting was ambushed.
He was 19, and had been in Iraq for less than a month.
In his eulogy, Rear Adm. Richard Porterfield, director of Naval
Intelligence, said Phelps’ name “will go down in the memory of the
Corps as one of its greatest heroes.”
Phelps’ family and friends wept during the services, placing flags
and flowers on his coffin. His father, John Phelps, hugged his
sister, Kelley, at the end of the ceremony, while Phelps’ mother,
Gretchen Mack, tapped his coffin lightly with her hand.
