Army Badge
  • Name: Billy Arlen Knight
  • Location of Birth: Grand Rapids, Minnesota
  • Date of Birth: September 3, 1923
  • Date of Death: January 1, 1943
  • Parents: Elbert Knight & Violet (Olts) Knight
  • High School and Class:
  • College:
  • Highest Rank: PFC (Private First Class)
  • Branch: Army
  • Other Branch:
  • Date Sworn In: February 6, 1941
  • Place Sworn In: Army Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Snelling, Minnesota
  • Date of Discharge:
  • Place of Discharge:
  • Military Awards:
    Prisoner of War Medal
    Purple Heart

  • Military Highlights:
    WW II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
    Name: Billy A. Knight
    Birth Year: 1922
    Race: White, citizen
    Nativity State or country: Minnesota
    State of Residence: Minnesota
    County or City: Itasca
    Enlistment Date: February 6, 1941
    Enlistment State: Minnesota
    Enlistment City: Fort Snelling
    Branch: Coast Artillery Corps
    Branch Code: Coast Artillery Corps or Army Mine Planter Service
    Grade: Private
    Grade Code: Private
    Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the Philippine Department
    Component: Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted Men)
    Source: Civil Life
    Education: 3 years of high school
    Marital status: Single, without dependents
    Height: 68
    Weight: 158

    Billy Knight died while a POW of the Japanese Army in Hoten POW Camp Mukden, Manchuria - he was originally interred in the POW Camp in China. He was reburied in Lakeview Cemetery, Coleraine, Minnesota in 1947.

  • Wars Involved:
    World War II

  • MIA / POW:
    Newspaper article: Itasca Iron News, Coleraine, Minnesota – May 27, 1943 – “BILLY KNIGHT, LONG A JAP PRISONER, IS DEAD – Billy Knight, one of the young men of Marble who went early into the armed service of the United States and who has been a Jap prisoner for many months, is dead. He was a private first class and was taken prisoner on Corregidor. The Red Cross kept in touch with him as much as possible, and reported his death Thursday of last week to his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Russ of Marble, and to his father Al. Knight. The latter has been for a long time a patient at the Veterans hospital in St. Cloud, but is now spending a month at the Russ home. Billy Knight attended Greenway high school in Coleraine.”

    Newspaper article: Itasca Iron News, Coleraine, Minnesota – 20 November 1947 – BILLIE KNIGHT, FIRST OF WAR DEAD TO BE BURIED IN MARBLE SUNDAY - Billie A. Knight, born Sept. 3, 1923, in Grand Rapids, Minn., died Jan. 1, 1943, in a Japanese prison camp in Mukden, Manchuria. He was the son of Elbert & Violet Knight of Marble. His mother died several years ago. He spent his youth in Milwaukee, Wis., and in Marble. He entered the Army after his mother’s death in 1941, and was sent to the Philippines shortly after entering the Army where he was stationed when war broke out. He was captured by the Japanese during the fall of Corregidor, was taken to Manchuria by the Japanese, and there he died. There will be a full military funeral by the Poppe-Smuk-Appelget Legion Post and Chupurdia-Knight VFW Post on Sunday, Nov. 23, in the Porterfield Methodist church. The clergyman will be Rev. J. A. Kaltenbach of Hibbing, former army chaplain, assisted by the regular pastor, Rev. Allyn Hanson. Survivors are his father, Elbert Knight, and an uncle, aunt and cousin, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Russ and son Darrell, all of Marble.

  • Civilian Life:
    The Chupurdia-Knight VFW Post #3898 of Calumet & Marble was organized March 26, 1944 and was named in his memory.

  • Tribal Affiliation(s):

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