Friends, family mourn Alabama soldier killed in Iraq (Marquees A. Quick)

Army Sgt. Marquees A. Quick was a scout in Iraq - one of the first troops to move into a new, dangerous area. It was tough work, and he didn't tell relatives much about it.

On Tuesday, his family gathered for the funeral of the 28-year-old soldier, killed Aug. 19 in Ramadi, Iraq, when his unit came under a grenade attack on a mission.

Quick, a 1996 graduate of Huffman High School, served seven months in Iraq. Family members would ask him about the conflict, but he tried to shield them as much as possible, according to grandmother Lois Nipson, 85.

"There are so many things he wouldn't talk about. I would say, `How is it over there, Marquees?' and he said, `Grandma, it's not that good,'" Nipson said. "I would continue to try to get things out of him, but he wouldn't tell me. He would say, `Grandma, don't worry. I'll be all right.'"

During a break from Iraq after his first assignment, Quick returned home obviously troubled, his wife said.

"Marq pretty much doesn't cry," Alashia Quick told The Birmingham News. "But there was so much bad stuff going on, he started crying."

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