Body of Fallen Soldier Christophe Marquis To Arrive At MacDill Tuesday

Posted Sep 19, 2011 by Howard Altman

Updated Sep 19, 2011 at 05:30 PM

Tomorrow the public will have an opportunity to pay its respects to Army Pfc. Christophe J. Marquis and his family. Marquis will be escorted from MacDill Air Force Base to Wilson Funeral Home in Tampa, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

His remains will arrive at 10:25 a.m. and the escort will begin at around 11 to 11: 15 a.m. The escort route will afford the public the chance to pay its respects to Marquis, 40, who died on September 4, 2011 from injuries sustained on August 27, 2011 in Afghanistan.

The Route:
-Leave MacDill AFB Bayshore Gate
-North on Bayshore Boulevard
-East on Platt Street Bridge
-North on Florida Avenue
-East on Jackson Street
-North on N. Jefferson Street
-East on Twiggs Street to
-North on Channelside Drive
-East on SR 60
-North on 22nd Street
-East on E 21st Ave

The procession will end at the Wilson Funeral Home, 3000 N. 29th Street Tampa.

The viewing will be Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a wake from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the service is going to be at the Spring Hill MB Church, 11 a.m. Saturday.

Marquis was loved by his family and highly respected in his unit.

Here is a Facebook posting by Sgt. Ruth Pagan, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, PAO, 4th Infantry Division

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Sept. 9) – Warhorse Brigade mourns the loss of one of our own, who died of wounds suffered in an attack in Kandahar City Aug. 27.

    Spc. Christophe Jean Claude Marquis, a 40-year-old native of Strasbourg, France, was assigned to Troop A, 5th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, attached to 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, while deployed.

    “(Marquis) was a good Soldier, knowledgeable, helpful and willing to carry the heaviest loads, and it’s clear his platoon-mates liked and admired him,” said Lt. Col. David Hardy, the commander of 2nd Bn., 8th Inf. Reg. “He came from a different background and he was a little older than the rest and he had a different accent but he was right at home among his fellow Soldiers.”

    Marquis joined the French Foreign Legion as an infantryman in 1990. He deployed to Bosnia and French Guiana in South America. Marquis earned the rank of staff sergeant while in the Legion.

Marquis moved to the United States in 2007 and enlisted in the U.S. Army in April 2010. He joined as an infantryman and was stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

    Few have a story like his, Hardy said. He went from the Legion to owning a bar in France to owning a bar in Florida, but ended up in the U.S. Army because he loved being a Soldier.

    “Specialist Marquis was a warrior in the truest sense of the word,” said Capt. Christopher Gardiner, the commander of Troop A, 5th Sqdn., 1st Cav. Reg. “There is no one who exemplifies the warrior lifestyle more. (His) attention to detail and dedication to mission was phenomenal and an example to junior troopers around him.”

    Marquis deployed to Afghanistan in May 2011 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom 11-12, where he served with distinction as one of the platoon’s M240 gunners and a biometrics equipment operator.

    “Specialist Marquis was the epitome of a Soldier,” said Staff Sgt. Aloysius Domme, a squad leader with Troop A. “He was a Soldier (who) everyone, including myself, learned from.”

    “Soldiering was what Marquis loved to do and he let nothing get in the way,” added Pfc. Daniel Bridges, also from Troop A.

    A memorial in Spc. Christophe Marquis’ honor was held in southern Afghanistan on Sept. 9.

    “He could take any situation and pull the positives out of it in a way to make people feel better about what’s going on,” Domme said.

    “He especially had a way of continuously lightening the mood day-in and day-out whether it was (with) his French dance or his many other ways of making people laugh,” Bridges said.

    “Marquis was the type of person who brightened everyone’s day,” Gardiner said.

    “He always brought a smile to our faces,” Domme said. “He was, in his own way, a morale boost.”

Marquis was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge. He earned during his career the National Defense Service Ribbon, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Afghan Campaign Medal.

    Marquis is survived by his wife, Brittany, their son, Christopher Jean Claude, and his mother, Francine Soucat.

    “He was a great Soldier and more importantly he was a good friend, my friend,” Domme said. “He will not be forgotten. It was an honor to serve with him and a privilege to know him.”