REPLAY: Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss posthumously honored with Gibbs High School portrait
Officials are gathering to present a portrait memorializing Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss during a special ceremony to honor the memory of the Gibbs High School graduate. Knauss was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 26, 2021, by a suicide bomber while Americans were evacuating innocent civilians at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Knauss was among 13 American service members who died in the attack blamed on the terrorist group ISIS-K, an offshoot of ISIS based in Afghanistan.
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Eighteen U.S. service members were wounded and more than 160 Afghans were killed in the bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, the center of an evacuation effort that lifted more than 110,000 people from the country since the Afghan national government fell last year to the Taliban.
Knauss, 23, of Corryton, about 20 miles northeast of Knoxville, was married and had already served a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan. He grew up in Tennessee and joined the Army straight out of high school.
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The Department of Defense said in a news release that Knauss was assigned to the 9th Psychological Operations Battalion, 8th Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, among other decorations.
Col. Jeremy Mushtare of the 8th Psychological Operations Group said in a statement that the loss of Knauss was "devastating to our formation and Army family.”
“Ryan was the embodiment of an Army Special Operations Forces soldier, a testament to the professionalism of the non-commissioned officer corps, and a steadfast husband and teammate,” Mushtare said.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss memorialized during a special ceremony
