DAPHNE, AL, USA U.S. Army SPC, 1165 MILITARY POLICE COMPANY, COMBAT SPT, DETACHMENT 1, FAIRHOPE, AL 36532 BAGHDAD, IRAQ 02/16/2004
Specialist Christopher Michael Taylor was assigned to the 1165 MP Company, and attached to the 18th Military Police Brigade. He was killed while on active duty in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, Feb. 16, 2004 when an improvised explosive device struck his convoy in Baghdad. His Alabama National Guard unit was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom
Christopher Taylor was 25. He was born in Metairie and a resident of Kentwood., Alabama. Fairhope and Daphne, Alabama were also his home areas. He was two months away from redeploying. He went to high school in Kentwood, but was living in Daphne. He had been assigned to the MP company headquarters in Fairhope. Chris had seven years of National Guard service, joining the guard in Louisiana in 1997 and transferring to the military police company in 2002.
Chris had spent 2003 Christmas with family and had plans to return to Kentwood and attend Southeastern Louisiana University when he was done in Iraq. He wanted to study law enforcement and wanted to become a game warder or a U.S. Marshal. His military awards and commendations included a certificate last year for exceptional performance as a military police officer.
Chris’s Father described him as 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds- the classic picture of muscle and fitness. Chris’s heart was bigger than he was and he worried about everybody. He was more concerned for others and even as a kid, as the middle kid, he would look both ways before letting his brothers cross the street.
He is survived by his parents, Michael and Priscilla Taylor, Kentwood; two brothers and a sister-in-law, David and Christina Taylor and Nathan Taylor, all of Kentwood; a niece, Emilee Taylor, Kentwood; and grandparents, Gerald and Betty Starling, Stark, Fla., and Ernest Taylor, Kentwood.
A 2004 letter from Chris provides a glimpse to his personality:
“Everything here is fine. I want you to know I’ve been very patriotic while I’ve been over here and not home. Of course, I regret the time spent away from my family. That quote, ‘Freedom isn’t free ’
“It’s an honor to wake up every day a United States soldier. There’s no greater pleasure than wearing my uniform and a symbol of the greatest nation of the earth on its sleeve.”
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