Vance Troy Coats
Army PFC
From: Great Falls, Cascade County
Date of Death: 12/20/1989
Conflict: Operation Just Cause - Panama
Vance Troy Coats was born on January 27, 1971, in Wilmington, North Carolina. At the age of one, he moved to Great Falls with his family and attended local schools. Despite facing challenges, he showed great determination and received his General Educational Development (GED) while serving in the Army. Vance enlisted at the young age of 17 and was stationed at Fort Cobb, Panama, with Company C of the First Airborne Battalion 1-508. Tragically, he lost his life while serving in the Panama conflict. Nearly 300 mourners attended his funeral, along with Governor Stan Stephens and Major General Paul Schwartz of Fort Lewis, Washington. Schwartz said he was asked by President George H. W. Bush to offer the condolences of the entire country. “I want to offer a profound and sincere thank-you from a very grateful nation,” Schwartz said. “It is a loss of a truly great American.” “His courageous commitment has silenced an evil regime,” Governor Stephens said. “Thank you, Troy Coats. Farewell, son of Montana. Rest in peace.”The 18-year-old Coats was one of three soldiers in Whalen’s fire team based at Fort Cobb, Panama. During the night of December 19, the team left its installation to join in the invasion of Panama. After a night of fighting, the team made its way into a Panama City neighborhood secured by United States troops, Whalen said. The tenants of the building they were in had been cleared out. At about 7 a.m., a grenade was thrown into the building, and its explosion set off a round of 9 millimeter shells from a recoilless rifle, Whalen recounted. He was one of the first soldiers to reach Coats, who, along with another soldier in the room, died from wounds suffered from the explosions. “He was energetic, committed to what he was doing, and carried the spirit of a soldier,” Whalen said as mourners offered their condolences to Coats’ family. Following the funeral services, military honors were accorded to Coats.
