Army Staff Sgt. Kurt R. Curtiss
Death: Aug 26, 2009
of Murray Utah; assigned to the 1st Battalion 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) 25th Infantry Division Fort Richardson Alaska; Died Aug. 26 in Sar Howzeh Afghanistan of wounds suffered when he was shot while his unit was supporting Afghan security forces during an enemy attack. ‘He felt we were in danger’ The Associated Press SOUTH OGDEN Utah — A candlelight vigil has been scheduled for Aug. 31 for a Utah soldier killed in Afghanistan. Army Staff Sgt. Kurt Curtiss27 of Murray was fatally shot Aug. 25 in a firefight as his unit tried to clear a group of insurgents out of a hospital in Paktika province Army spokesman Nathan Banks said. Curtiss is survived by his wife Elizabeth a 9-year-old son and a 6-year-old daughter. Curtiss had two prior tours of duty in Iraq and told his mother that the situation he found in his most recent deployment in Afghanistan was “brutal.” “He didn’t say much more than that” his mother Ruth Serrano of South Ogden told the Salt Lake Tribune. “I don’t know if he wasn’t allowed to or if he just didn’t want to worry people. I don’t know.” Forty-seven U.S. service members Died in August in Afghanistan the most since the start of the eight-year war. Curtiss who enlisted in the Army the day after the Sept. 112001 terror attacks was assigned to the 1st Battalion 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) 25th Infantry Division Fort Richardson Alaska. “He felt we were in danger and he wanted to do something to help” said his sister Lynn Burr of Arizona. Vigil for Utah soldier killed in Afghanistan The Associated Press SOUTH OGDEN Utah — Friends and family of a Utah soldier killed in Afghanistan held a vigil to remember him on the lawn of his mother’s home. Kurt Curtiss27 Died Aug. 26 in Paktika Province in Afghanistan. He was shot while his unit was supporting Afghan security forces during an enemy attack. Ruth Serrano on Sept. 1 recalled seeing her son at Christmas. She said he was handsome and well-mannered but that something was wrong and he wouldn’t talk about it. Curtiss of Murray was assigned to the 1st Battalion 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) 25th Infantry Division Fort Richardson Alaska. He left behind had a wife and two young children. Curtiss went to Afghanistan in December. He had already served two tours in Iraq.Operation Enduring Freedom