KOKOMO, Miss. - The first Mississippi Guardsman killed in action since the beginning of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom will be laid to rest in his hometown of Kokomo.
Spec. James Anderson Chance III, 25, died Thursday in Iraq when his truck hit a land mine near the Syrian border, Guard officials said.
Unmarried with no children, Chance lived with his parents in their house across the road from Kokomo Methodist Church.
He helped care for his wheelchair-bound father, James, who served a tour of duty in Vietnam.
"He would do without so that someone could have. That's the way he was raised," Chance's older brother, Allen, said Thursday night.
The death is under investigation.
Chance's unit, Company C, 890th Engineer Battalion, was attached to the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment when the incident occurred about 6 a.m., the Guard said.
Chance graduated from West Marion High School in May 1997 and enlisted in the Army in June where he served for three years, his brother said.
He was a heavy equipment operator while in the Army and drove trucks while in the National Guard.
When his stint in the Army ended, he returned to Kokomo, working first as a manager of the Taco Bell in Columbia and later at a furniture rental store.
He joined the National Guard around the end of 2000.
The 890th Engineer Battalion is headquartered in Gulfport with units in Pascagoula, Picayune, Wiggins, Lumberton, Purvis, Columbia, and Richton. It was mobilized in February, 2003, and arrived in the Middle East in April. The battalion has about 600 members.
The last time Allen Chance, a corrections officer at the Marion-Walthall Regional Correctional Facility, spoke to his brother was a 3:30 a.m. telephone call about a month ago.
They spoke about their ailing grandmother, Allen Chance said.
"He was worried about her and he was trying to get it where he could come home for a few days to see her," he said. "He never could get around to it."
James Chance's body will be flown back to Kokomo for a military funeral. No burial date has been set.
"Our prayers are with the Chance family during this difficult time," said Maj. Gen. James H. Lipscomb III, the state's adjutant general. "Spec. Chance paid the ultimate price for his country and our freedoms, and should be remembered as a true hero."
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove he was "deeply saddened by the death of one of Mississippi's sons. I want to assure his family and friends that his sacrifice will not be forgotten."
Spec. James Anderson Chance III
No. 828-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov 06, 2003
(703)697-5131(media)
(703)428-0711(public/industry)
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was
supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. James A. Chance III, 25, of Kokomo, Miss., was killed on Nov. 6, 2003, in
Husaybah, Iraq. Chance died of injuries sustained when his vehicle struck a landmine.
Chance was assigned to C Company, 890th Engineer Battalion, Army National
The 890th Engineer Battalion was activated on 25 March 1953, as the 890th Engineer Aviation Battalion, Mississippi Air National Guard.
On 1 August 1953, the Battalion was reallocated to the Mississippi Army National Guard. Federal Recognition was awarded on 2 November 1953.
In addition to the national defense role as a mobilization asset, the Battalion plays a vital role in the State of Mississippi.
KOKOMO -- In life James "Jimmy" Chance III usually stayed close to his parents' home, his relatives and his friends, though he loved to ramble.
Unable to afford a car, he usually walked along Kokomo's roads wherever he went as a teenager, often shunning rides even on hot afternoons.
But once he enlisted full-time in the Army in 1997 he finally had enough money to buy his first vehicle - a red Chevrolet Blazer.
"He was - how could you put it? - a well-loved comedian in this community," said Allen Chance, 31, his sole brother and the family spokesman. And, amazingly, on the day after learning that his brother became the first fatality from Mississippi National Guard units deployed in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, Allen Chance could still smile.
Spec. Jimmy Chance died around 6 a.m. Thursday when the truck he was driving hit a land mine along a border road near the Husaybah border crossing point with Syria, military officials said.
Chance's unit, Company C, 890th Engineer Battalion, Mississippi Army National Guard, Columbia. was attached to the U. S. Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment when the incident occurred.
Once Chance's body is shipped back home by the military this weekend, he will forever be close to home. He will be buried early next week in the cemetery behind Kokomo Methodist Church, a white clapboard church with no telephone barely a 100 yards from his parents' home. Initial plans call for the funeral to be held Tuesday, Veterans Day.
Word's getting out
Here in the Kokomo community, which is secluded from U.S. 98 and the passage of time by woods and farmland, people spoke with pride Friday about how tight-knit their community of about 1,200 remains and the impact that Jimmy Chance had on their lives.
Decades ago, the logging town once boasted 25,000 people and several dairies but that all dissipated as the forests thinned and jobs disappeared.
If people from the outside know anything of Kokomo now, it's likely because of the notoriety from the 2000 hanging death of black teenager Raynard Johnson and the ensuing controversy about his death, capped with the Rev. Jesse Jackson leading a march of 750 people through the community and calling the death a lynching.
Two autopsies, one commissioned by the family, and toxicology reports indicated the injuries were consistent with suicide.
"Everybody knows about it but they don't talk about it," Allen Chance said Friday.
News of his own brother's death sent grieving friends, relatives and curious news media hurrying to visit here where the pace is defiantly slower.
Long stretches of time can pass where no sound is heard along Kokomo Road other than the rustling of leaves. But inside the house of Jimmy Chance's parents, James and Ann Chance Jr., the phone rang almost steadily Thursday and Friday, said Allen Chance.
At the big blue Kokomo General Store, where female customers are greeted by proprietor Linda Foil with calls of "Hey girlfriend", residents have begun talking about Jimmy Chance's death.
"Most people pass and see the cars and want to know," said Linda Foil, a classically trained pianist. "The word's getting out."
While customers stop to buy gasoline or food or just to talk, CNN plays on the television above the cash register, relaying news Friday of a Black Hawk helicopter being shot down.
Allen Chance, a correctional officer at a nearby regional jail, leaned against the ice-cream freezer and comforted his wife, Lisa, 31, as they recalled their own dead soldier.
"That's my heart right there," said Lisa Chance, talking about Jimmy Chance. She nuzzled her face in the crook of Allen Chance's big arm.
Her brother-in-law, she said, served almost as a second father for the couple's children, Lisa Chance recalled, for the three sons from her first marriage, Kenneth Baughman, 15, Johnathon Baughman, 13, and Derick Baughman, 9, and Allen Chance's son from his previous marriage, Samuel Chance, 2.
"Whenever I was working and I needed him to do something, he would go and pick the kids up, you know, and take care of them for me," Lisa Chance said, verging on tears.
"He would do anything for anybody," said Allen Chance.
Allen Chance recounted how he and his brother never talked about the possibility of his death. "That was kind of on the back burner," he said.
But like thousands of other military families, they've watched the news for details of causalities and fatalities, fearing the worst.
He never hesitated in doing his duty
While Jimmy Chance's father, James Chance Jr., spent much of his life in the military, first serving a tour of duty in Vietnam and then serving in the National Guard for 25 years, the military never figured prominently in his youngest son's plans until he first enlisted in the Army, said Allen Chance.
Their father never told them about his time in Vietnam, Allen Chance recounted, but the military offered an attractive way to make a better life for himself and travel.
After his three-year enlistment ended, he joined the National Guard reserves.
National Guard Sgt. Allen Parker, 40, recruited Jimmy Chance to join Company C, 890th Engineer Battalion. Sitting alone Friday in the National Guard Armory in Columbia, Parker recalled Jimmy Chance as "a real well-liked individual. He had a smile on his face all the time."
When the call came earlier this year that the battalion would go overseas, Chance never hesitated in wanting to do his duty.
And his brother said Jimmy Chance planned to re-enlist in the Army full-time after he returned from Iraq.
Jimmy Chance cared for his parents, neither of whom drives - his father because of his physical condition and his mother because she never learned how.
That responsibility will now fall on Allen Chance.
"It's going to be hard," he said. "Because I guess I can say that the things he did for them while he was here now I'm going to have to."
Kokomo resident Clemietean Walker, 57, stopped in the general store Friday morning for gasoline and though she didn't know Jimmy Chance, she could identify with their sorrow.
A former resident of Baton Rouge, La., she said her daughter was killed in a drive-by shooting three years ago.
"I understand what the family is going through from experience, you know," Walker said. "People can be loving, they can be kind and caring, but I think God is the only one who can put the pieces back together."
Allen Chance and his wife, Lisa, remember his brother, Mississippi National Guardsman Spec. James Anderson Chance III, at the Kokomo General Store near their home. James Chance was killed in Iraq.
In a day and age where there is no draft, how do we accomplish having the mightiest military force in the world? When you think about the fact that each American Soldier has elected to enlist, you have to wonder what kind of person is willing to sacrifice their life for our freedom. Where do they come from?
Let me tell you about one of these Americn Heros.
On November 6, 2003, America lost SPC. James A. Chance III, age 25, after his vehicle struck a landmine in Iraq, near the Syrian border. He was laid to rest in his home town of Kokomo, Mississippi.
After speaking to Mr. Chance about his son, it is not hard to understand where James would have gotten his courage and heroism. He was proud to tell me that his family has served in the military for several generations, as far back as his grandfather. Mr. Chance served his Country in the Vietnam War and he has lived his life in a wheel chair due to the injuries he sustained while there. What sacrifices this man and his family have given for the right of each American!
His son James, gave up most of his teenage life caring for his father. James had already known the sacrifices and horror that war can bring to a family. Yet he thought it his duty to serve his Country. James was already a hero before he joined! Now he has given the ultimate sacrifice...He has given his life for all of us.
These days have been extremely hard for the Chance Family, but Mr. Chance assured me that they would get through this, that God works in mysterious ways.
He is so very proud of his son. Proud that his son loved his Country enough to stand up for her, proud that his son wanted to follow in his footsteps as he did in his father's.
Although the Chance family has given more than most of us can even imagine, they still believe in the Red, White,and Blue. They understand that our freedoms can not exist without these sacrifices. They believe in One Nation Under God, Indivisible...
Many people have expressed to Mr. Chance, that because of his sacrifices, he should be against this war on terrorism. He tells them that it is quite the opposite. He and his family, want all to know, that we have to "stay the course" and persevere. We have to win this war on terrorism. It is the only way, we as a Country, can truely pay our respects, and honor those that have given the ultimate sacrifice....Our Heros!
So this is where we get them from....
Families, that for generations are willing to fight for you and I.
Families, that after losing a part of themselves, one of their children, are STILL willing to salute our Red, White, and Blue!
Each Soldier overseas right now has the right to know that America stands behind them.
I'll leave you now with these famous words from Mark Twain...
"It is a worthy thing to fight for one's freedom,
it is another sight finer to fight for another man's!"
KOKOMO, Miss. - Funerals were being held this weekend for two Mississippi soldiers killed last week in Iraq.
Spec. James "Jimmy" Chance III usually stayed close to his parents' home, his relatives and his friends in this close-knit Marion County community.
"He was - how could you put it? - a well-loved comedian in this community," Allen Chance said of his brother.
Chance, 25, died Thursday when his truck hit a land mine near the Syrian border.
The other, Staff Sgt. Joe Nathan Wilson, 30, was among 16 soldiers killed Sunday in a helicopter attack in Iraq.
"There is nothing that prepares you for this," said Rose Wilson, grandmother Joe Wilson. "Nothing can ever make up for losing him."
The funeral for Sgt. Wilson, a Crystal Springs native, was scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at Crystal Springs High School, Rose Wilson said.
He lived with his wife Erica, and their 1 1/2-year-old daughter, at Fort Sill, Okla. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Field Artillery Regiment.
Unable to afford a car, James Chance usually walked along Kokomo's roads wherever he went as a teenager, often shunning rides even on hot afternoons, his brother said.
After enlisting full-time in the Army in 1997, James Chance finally had enough money to buy his first vehicle - a red Chevrolet Blazer.
Chance served in the Army for three years, then joined the National Guard, his brother Allen Chance, 31, said.
Chance's unit, Company C, 890th Engineer Battalion, was attached to the Army's 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment when the incident occurred about 6 a.m., the Guard said.
Chance will be buried early next week in the cemetery behind Kokomo Methodist Church, barely 100 from his parents' home, where he lived.
Allen Chance said initial plans are for the funeral to be held Tuesday, Veterans Day.
Company C, 890th Engineer Battalion
holds memorial service for SPC Chance
Members of the 890th Engineer Battalion stations in Iraq bow their heads in a moment of silence during a memorial service held in memory of SPC James “Jimmy” Chance III who passed away last Thursday when his truck hit a land mine about 6 a.m while traveling along a border road near the Husaybah border crossing point with Syria. See more information in the Thursday Edition of the Columbian-Progress.
