Fort Rich soldier dies in Afghanistan

Staff Sgt. Kurt R. Curtiss, 27, from Murray, Utah, died Wednesday, the Army reported. A spokesman at Fort Richardson said Curtiss was killed by small-arms fire in the Sar Howzeh District of Paktika Province, about 35 miles from the border with Pakistan and about 90 miles south of Kabul.

Curtiss served in Headquarters Company of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. The unit is part of the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the 25th Infantry Division, which shipped out for a one-year tour in Afghanistan in February.

Curtiss was the third combat fatality from the headquarters company this month and the ninth soldier from the brigade to die in Afghanistan since it deployed.

On Friday, two days after Curtiss' death, another U.S. soldier died in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan. The Army has not yet identified that soldier, but he was the 45th to die in Afghanistan this month, making August the deadliest month for U.S. service members in the nearly eight-year war.

Curtiss' wife, Elizabeth, lived in Anchorage with their 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter. Elizabeth Curtiss couldn't be reached.

The Salt Lake Tribune quoted family members as saying Curtiss' unit came under fire as it tried to evacuate a hospital.

"He got caught in the crossfire," his mother, Ruth Serrano of South Ogden, Utah, told KSL-TV of Salt Lake City.

This was her son's third deployment since he joined the Army the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, she told the newspaper. His two previous tours were in Iraq, where he was wounded several times, but he described the situation in Afghanistan as "brutal," Serrano said.

In her most recent conversation with her son, about two weeks ago, "he had that quiver in his voice," Serrano told KSL-TV.

Curtiss' sister, Lynn Burr, told the Tribune that dozens of foster children passed through their home growing up in Arizona, and the family was trying to contact them all.

In a statement Friday, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell praised Curtiss as "a true American hero" and ordered a state flag sent to his family.

Find Richard Mauer online at adn.com/contact/rmauer or call 257-4345.