Another Mom Mourns A Son Killed In Afghanistan, This Time In France

Posted Sep 12, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Sep 12, 2011 at 09:02 PM

Last week, I received an email, from a woman in France.

Her son, Christophe Marquis, died in Germany on Sept. 4 from injuries he received earlier in Afghanistan. Marquis, 40, had been living in Tampa, with his wife and their child. He entered the U.S. Army after serving for many years in the French army. He was one of 11 service members to die in the past eight days from wounds suffered in Afghanistan (I was caught up in the Sept. 11 memorials and was remiss on posting last night). A Navy commander supporting Operation New Dawn died in a non-combat situation in Bahrain and an Army specialist died stateside of a non-combat related illness.

I don’t speak French, and can only read a little, but this seems quite poignant.

Maybe you read French.

Bonjour Monsieur Howard Altam,

Je vous remercie pour vos condoléances.

Il n’est pas toujours facile de parler d’un de ses proches sans manquer d’objectivité.

Christophe était un homme particulièrement actif, sportif, qui mordait la vie à pleine dent. Il pratiquait des sports aussi différents que le ski, le golf, le parachutisme,..
Il avait une expression qui résume son ardeur de vivre : « l’important ce n’est pas que je réussisse ce que je veux entreprendre, mais je ne veux pas regretter de ne pas avoir essayé. »

Il était honnête et fidèle en amitié, tous ceux qui le connaissait l’appréciaient, sa famille bien évidemment mais ses amis aussi. Les témoignages exprimés à l’occasion de l’hommage que nous lui avons rendu hier 7 septembre (avant son retour aux USA) l’ont confirmé.

A ma connaissance, il a connues 4 grandes périodes dans sa vie.

Son engagement dans l’armée Française où il à passé 5 ans au 21ème Régiment d’Infanterie de Marine, basé à Fréjus. Il est parvenu au grade de sergent de l’armée Française. Pendant cette période il a été en mission à Sarajevo pendant le conflit avec les forces Serbes.

L’ouverture d’un bar à Caen. Sa joie de vivre et sa gentillesse ont rapidement fait de ce bar un bar réputé. Qui était notamment fréquenté par des footballeurs professionnels de l’équipe de Caen.
Son départ pour la Floride ou il à fait la connaissance de Brittany, qui allait devenir sa femme et avec qui il a eu son fils Christopher.

Et la dernière, son engagement dans l’armée des USA, et son départ en mission pour l’Afghanistan.

Christophe nous a quitté le 4 septembre 2011, une vie beaucoup trop courte mais bien remplie !

Voila quelques aspects de la personnalité de Christophe. Son décès est trop récent pour ne pas avoir les larmes aux yeux lorsque j’évoque sa vie, il n’est pas logique qu’un père voit un fils mourir.
Maintenant, le plus important c’est l’avenir de sa femme et de son fils. Je suis assuré que l’armée des USA saura y répondre !

Si vous avez des précisions sur l’attentat qui a causé la mort de Christophe et blessés ses camarades, pouvez vous me les communiquer, car nous avons besoins de connaître pour faciliter notre deuil. Si cela vous est possible, communiquez moi l’article que vous rédigerez et faites moi parvenir un exemplaire du journal dans lequel votre article sera publié.

Avec mes remerciements !

Joël MARQUIS
Claudine MARQUIS

These are the service members who died in the past eight days:

Staff Sgt. Keith F. Rudd, 36, of Winder, Ga., died Sept. 10 in Parvan, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained while supporting combat operations.  He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Staff Sgt. Daniel A. Quintana, 30, of Huntington Park, Calif., died Sept. 10 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire.  He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Schweinfurt, Germany.

Pfc. Brett E. Wood, 19, of Spencer, Ind., died Sept. 9 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Petty Officer Brian K. Lundy, 25, of Austin, Texas, died while conducting a dismounted patrol in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, on Sept. 9. Lundy was assigned as a hospital corpsman to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Three soldiers died Sept. 9 in Paktia, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with small arms fire. They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 279 Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma National Guard, Tulsa, Okla.

        Killed were:

        Sgt. Bret D. Isenhower, 26, of Lamar, Okla.,
        Spc. Christopher D. Horton, 26, of Collinsville, Okla., and
        Pfc. Tony J. Potter Jr., 20, of Okmulgee, Okla.

Two soldiers died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device Sept. 8 in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  They were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
       
Killed were:

        Spc. Koran P. Contreras, 21, of Lawndale, Calif.
        Pfc. Douglas J. Jeffries Jr., 20, of Springville, Calif

Cmdr. James K. Crawford, 50, of East Concord, N.Y., died Sept. 7, as a result of a non-combat related incident in Manama, Bahrain while supporting Operation New Dawn.  Crawford was assigned to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, supporting operations at the Combined Maritime Forces Coalition Coordination Center at Naval Support Activity, Bahrain.

An investigation is in progress.

Spc. Kevin R. Shumaker, 24, of Livermore, Calif., died Aug. 31 in a stateside hospital of a non-combat related illness.  He was assigned to the Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

James W. Coker, 59, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., was pronounced dead Sept. 5 in Kabul, Afghanistan, while on temporary assignment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Coker worked for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic, Norfolk, Va.

The circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation.

Pfc. Christophe J. Marquis, 40, of Tampa, Fla., died Sept. 4 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany,of injuries sustained Aug. 27 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device.  He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

There have now been 1,748 people who have died supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and 4,477 supporting Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn.