Based: Ft. Hood, Texas
1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: September 6, 2008
Aliabad, Afghanistan
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: San Juan Capistrano
Burial: Gardens of Memory Cemetery, Kinsey, Ala.
In late July [2008], while he was in Afghanistan, his sister sent him an e-mail: "Hey buddy. Please be safe and make it home. I dunno if ur still into the church thing -- but pray too."
Less than two months later, Spc. Marques I. Knight, 24, was fatally shot Sept. 6 in Aliabad in northern Afghanistan's Kunduz province.
An uncle, Shelp Knight, said the Army told him that his nephew and fellow soldiers were ambushed while on foot patrol near the Pakistani border.
A day after the ambush, Shelp Knight, who lives in Dothan, Ala., got a call from his brother Charles with the news. "I hung up," he said. "I didn't want to hear it."
To his sister, Knight was a beautiful and funny man, who would be your best friend, once he warmed to you. As Shelp Knight put it: "He's a kid everybody needs to know."
Marques Knight was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Ft. Hood, Texas. It was his second tour of duty.
He had long been interested in the military. He participated in the ROTC at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fla. Family members also recalled that, as a boy, Knight dreamed about drawing and animation -- a hobby he loved but relegated to his free time.
Knight cared as much for his body as for his drawings. He ordered nutritional supplements and weight gainers to supplement his weightlifting, he told his sister in an e-mail. He would ask Conroy to ship him foods high in protein -- tuna, sardines and salmon. He wanted to bulk up his lean, 6-foot-5 frame. Knight would easily run nine to 12 miles a day and lift weights twice a day, she said.
In addition to his sister and adoptive parents, Jerry and Addie Knight, he is survived by a large extended family, including brothers Jerry G. Knight and Jeffery D. Knight.
Read more about Army Specialist Marques I. Knight here and here.
Army Specialist Marques I. Knight previously remembered at Boom3 on Tuesday, September 14, 2010.
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