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Private First Class David Lee Knight

  • Unit: 729th Transportation Operations Battalion, Transportation Corps 117th Transport Company Reserve
  • Date of Birth: February 1, 1930
  • Entered the Military: January 3, 1951
  • Date of Death: December 15, 1959
  • Hometown: Augusta, Maine
  • Cemetery: Section V, Site 5291. Togus National Cemetery, Chelsea, Maine
Contributed by Ms. Erica Swenson
Bruce M. Whittier Middle School
2017–2018

Before the War

On February 1, 1930, David Lee Knight was born in China, Maine. He was the only son of Norman and Marjorie Knight who divorced when their son was ten. He lived with his mother in a small apartment in Augusta during his teenage years. He attended Cony High School where he was a member of both the football team and the glee club. In school, he had the reputation of being someone who could get off task. As the 1947 high school yearbook pointed out, “We might well call Dave the vagabond of our class because his mind is always wandering.”

Knight had ambitions of one day following in his own father’s footsteps and becoming an officer in the maritime service. 

Military Experience

On January 3, 1951, Knight entered the military. He was assigned to be part of the 729th Transportation Operations Battalion. It was the job of this group and other transportation operation battlations to follow and supply advancing troops. Over the course of the three-year war, the Transportation Corps moved over three million soldiers and seven million tons of cargo throughout the Korean peninsula. When Knight joined the battalion, the situation in Korea was more static, but his job was not an easy one. 

The transportation operation battalions faced many obstacles: derailments, poor track conditions due to extreme weather, track and bridge washouts, landslides, guerrilla attacks, water pump failures, and communication breakdowns. Furthermore, moving ammunition could be dangerous. In March 1951, there were eight train accidents in one month. 
Despite the risk, Knight transferred to the 117th Transportation Battalion on December 15, 1952. He continued to serve in this capacity until the August 10, 1956, three years beyond the Korean conflict.

Veteran Experience

In 1956, the U.S. military honorably discharged Knight. He returned to Maine where he lived in Augusta, until his mysterious death in the Augusta Veterans Affairs Medical Center three years later in 1959. He was recommended for burial at Togus National Cemetery by a staff member of the VA hospital. His obituary stated that he had no living relatives, although his mother lived only a few miles away in China, Maine.

Commemoration

On Sunday, December 20, 1959, the Togus VA Chapel held a service in honor of David Lee Knight. Afterward, he was laid to rest at the Togus National Cemetery in Chelsea, Maine, where he is one of two veterans who served in the Korean War.

Bibliography

712th Transportation Battalion, Command Reports December 1950-March 1951; Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter), Record Group 338 (Box 5923); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Cony High School. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1990. Digital Images. http://ancestry.com.

“David L. Knight.” Daily Kennebec Journal, December 15, 1959.  

“David Lee Knight.” National Cemetery Administration. Accessed March 15, 2018. https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/index.html?cemetery=N822

Hospital, Veterans Administration Facility, Togus, Maine. Postcard. c. 1930-1945. The Tichnor Brothers Collection, Digital Commons Media, Massachusetts Collections Online, Boston Public Library (75736). Image. https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:hm50ts46s

Jordan, Stuart. “A History of the United States Army Transportation Corps.” Last modified 2014. Accessed March 20, 2018. http://www.gaugemaster.com/articles/guides/united-states-army-transportation-corps.html.  

Killblane, Richard E. “Operation Yo-Yo: Transportation during the first year of the Korean War.” Army Sustainment Magazine. Last modified October 9, 2014. Accessed March 20, 2018. https://www.army.mil/article/112238/operation_yo_yo_transportation_during_the_first_year_of_the_korean_war

Killblane, Richard E. “70 Years of the Transportation Corps.” Army Sustainment Magazine. Last modified July-August 2012. Accessed August 4, 2018. http://www.alu.army.mil/alog/issues/JulAug12/70_Years_transportation_Corps.html.

Korean War Stories. Directed by Robert Uth. 2002. Washington D.C.: New Voyage Communications, 2003. DVD. 

Maine. Kennebec County. 1940 U.S. Census. Digital Images. http://ancestry.com.

Organizational History Files, 459th Signal Bn. To 724th Transportation Bn.; Records of HW, U.S. Army Pacific, Military Historian’s Office, Record Group 550 (Box 302); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

“The Overview of the U.S. Army in the Korean War.” The State of New Jersey. 1996-2018. Accessed June 1, 2018. https://www.nj.gov/military/korea/factsheets/army.html.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 724); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 735); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 750); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 765); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 784); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 786); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Boxes 793-794); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 800); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 816); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 819); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 838); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 849); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 896); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 1032); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Photographs: Signal Corps Photographs of American Activity, 1900-1981; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Corps Officer, Record Group 111 (Box 1139); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

PFC Melvin Darman…diesel operator, 712th…. Photograph. September 1, 1953. National Archives and Records Administration (111-SC-478433). Image.

Pobulinksy, Corporal Alex. Sgt. Albert A. Valentine (Schenectady, N.Y.) oils the General Pershing train… Photograph. July 18, 1951. National Archives and Records Administration (111-SC-374358). Image.

Railroad Map of Southern Korea; 712th Transportation Battalion, Cmd Report 1950. RG 338 (Box 5923); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. 

Records of U.S. Army Operational, Tactical, and Support Organizations (World War II and Thereafter); Unit Histories, 1940-1967; Transportation Battalions, 1940-1967;  712th Trans. Bn. (Command Reports, Dec 1950) Thru 112th Trans. BN. (Command Reports, Mar 1951);  (Box 5923); National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. 

U.S. Headstones Applications for Military Veterans, 1929-1963. Digital Images. http://ancestry.com.