Soldier from Indy dies in Iraq

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The Department of Defense says a 25-year-old soldier from Indiana has died in Iraq.  Army Spc. Chancellor A. Keesling of Indianapolis died Friday in Baghdad.

Keesling was assigned to the 961st Engineer Company out of Sharonville, Ohio.  He was serving his second tour in Iraq and had just arrived in Baghdad two weeks ago. His parents say he was reluctant to go a second time but went because it was his duty as a soldier.

Gregg and Jannett Keesling just watched their son's body, Army Specialist Chancellor Keesling, return to Dover Air Force Base.

"It's a finale. It's an actual reality check and when I knew that you are actually going to see the box. You face the fact that he's right here in this box," Jannett said.

Chancy, as he was often called, did not come from a military family. In fact his sister tried to discourage him.

His father talked of the discussions Chancy would have with his sister, "This is not the right war, why do you want to fight this stupid war? Just a hundred mile an hour, our daughter does. I'm in the kitchen around the corner, he says so slowly, we must have a military."

His parents say he was a good soldier. But this tour wasn't going well. Through emails, Gregg and Jannett knew he was troubled.

"A lot of them were like, I'm trying to get settled in. It's hot, it's miserable. It has been a tough deployment for me so far. I miss you guys a lot," Jannett said.

Chancy committed suicide on June 19th. The Keesling's however believe the Army is working to improve resources for suicidal soldiers. They plan to use their son's story to better educate the army.

"Hopefully this country will learn lot of how to reach out to soldiers in trouble. And that will be his legacy that will help us do this better," Gregg explained.

And so this tight knit Jamaican family wants to celebrate Chancy's life.

Jannett runs an organization that helps the needy called Keys To Work and they plan to give all donations to help a homeless woman named Mary-Anne all in Chancy's honor.

"So if we can help and reach out to you now to help you. We couldn't reach out to Chancy, we couldn't reach him in the time needed. Hopefully we can help now," Gregg said.

Keesling's body will return to Indianapolis sometime this week.

Gregg and Jannett hope to bury their son near their home.

Since February 2003, 102 Indiana military personnel have died after being sent to the Mideast for the war in Iraq.