This was the basic story that went across the AP newswire about Jason (for the full AP story on Military City click here).

Specialist Jason K. Chappell, 22, of Hemet, California.
Chappell was killed when a vehicle-based improvised explosive device detonated in Khalidiyah, Iraq. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, Fort Hood, Texas. Died on January 24, 2004.

This seemed so short, so simplistic that we felt that Jason deserved a lot more than those few words from an AP story writer.

So we'd like to pay tribute to Jason from our family.

Jason married our daughter Stephanie in August 2002.  Like all parents, we were surprised and worried about our "little girl" suddenly getting married. But then we started to get to know Jason and realized just how special a person he was.  He was everything that you could have wanted in a son-in-law: hard-working and intelligent, with a strong faith in God, love for Steph and for the whole family.

Some time after Jason's funeral, something kind of odd turned up. It seems that Jason had been recorded on video. We have all seen this kind of video, where a cameraman sticks a camera into a soldier's face and he says hi to the folks back home.  We never saw this particular video on any broadcast. However through the efforts of army personnel, we were given a copy of the tape. 

The video was of some of the men in Jason's unit, Company B, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry.  It was very close to Thanksgiving and there were several guys doing the 'hi there and see you soon" things. But, Jason's was a little different, just like him. First he wished Steph a happy birthday (Her birthday was in a couple days) and said he loved her very much. He said he missed family and friends. Then he said "God is good and he is going to get me home."

Jason was physically part of our family for a very short time.   But in that time he managed to touch all of us very deeply. It has been several months since we lost him but we are still coming to grips with our grief and loss. But he will always be remembered in our hearts and to anyone that will listen to us talk about him.

Jason's Page on Fallen Heroes Memorial

First Cavalry Division Association - Fallen Defenders

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