Hometown: Augusta, Maine

Entered Service: January 3, 1951

Unit: 729th Transportation Operations Battalion, Transportation Corps 117th Transport Company Reserve

Rank: Private First Class, U.S. Army

Cemetery: Section V, Site 5291 Togus National Cemetery Chelsea, Maine

February 1, 1930 - December 13, 1959

Private First Class David L. KnightRESEARCHED BY ERICA SWENSON

Profile: Sergeant Major George W. Brown 1

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Before the WarOn 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.

Top Left: Cony High School football team, 1946. Cony High School.Bottom Left: A view of Cony High School from the yearbook, 1947. Cony High School.

Right: David Knight’s senior yearbook photograph from Cony High School, 1947. Cony High School.

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Profile: Sergeant Major George W. Brown 2

Military ExperienceOn 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.

A U.S. Transportation Corps train engine, September 1, 1953. National Archives and Records Administration (111-SC-478433).

Left: Railroad Map of Southern Korea, 1950. National Archives and Records Administration (RG 338, Box 5923, Entry 37042).

Right: The General Pershing, a military train used to transport soldiers and supplies throughout the Korean Peninsula, July 18, 1951.

National Archives and Records Administration (111-SC-374358).

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Profile: Sergeant Major George W. Brown 3

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.

Postcard of the Veterans Administration Facility in Togus, Maine, c. 1930-1945. The Tichnor Brothers Collection, Digital Commons Media,

Massachusetts Collections Online, Boston Public Library (75736).

Top Left: Private First Class David Knight’s application for a VA headstone in Togus National Cemetery in Chelsea, Maine. National Cemetery Administration.

Bottom Left: Private First Class David Knight’s Grave in Togus National Cemetery in Chelsea, Maine, 2018. Courtesy of Erica Swenson. Right: Private First Class David Knight’s obituary in the Daily Kennebec Journal, December 15, 1959. Maine State Library Archives.

VETERANS LEGACY PROGRAM National Cemetery Administration | American Battle Monuments Commission | National History Day | Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Profile: Sergeant Major George W. Brown 4

Bibliography712th 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.

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.

VETERANS LEGACY PROGRAM National Cemetery Administration | American Battle Monuments Commission | National History Day | Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Profile: Sergeant Major George W. Brown 5

Bibliography (con't)

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.