Soldier with Utah ties killed in Afghanistan

SOUTH OGDEN — After watching the horror of events that unfolded on Sept. 11, 2001, Kurt Curtiss had one thing on his mind: Join the Army.

And because he couldn't enlist that fateful Tuesday, he signed up Wednesday instead.

There was no talking him out of it, said Ruth Serrano, Curtiss' mother.

"He wanted to make a difference," she said. "I think he did."

"He was a hero."

Was.

Staff Sgt. Curtiss was shot and killed Tuesday as his unit attempted to clear a group of insurgents out of a hospital in Afghanistan, said Lt. Col. Nathan Banks, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon.

A group of five possible insurgents were escorted out of the hospital, but one Afghan national refused to leave and began firing at Afghan National Security Forces, Banks said. Curtiss and his unit had arrived to assist local forces.

Serrano gets choked up when she relates that Curtiss, on his third tour to the Middle East, was the first one from his unit to enter the hospital and was hit almost immediately, getting stuck in the crossfire.

A memorial to Curtiss is posted on a wooden electricity pole in front of Serrano's South Ogden home. His picture is tacked to the pole, and yellow ribbons are tied above and below it.

That meager memorial is not enough, though, Serrano said. On Monday, the family will host a candlelight vigil at 8:30 p.m. at their home, 305 37th St. in South Ogden.

"This way I can tell the world that my son died for them and for this country," Serrano said.

Her message seems to be getting out.

On Friday, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert released a statement of condolences to Serrano and to Curtiss' family, saying he and his wife, Jeanette, appreciate Curtiss' service and his making the "ultimate sacrifice."

"We anguish with his family at this time, and recognize the significant sacrifice they, too, have made in the name of freedom," Herbert said. "He is truly one of this country's, and this state's, heroes."

"See, I told you," Serrano said upon hearing the governor's statement. "He's now going to have the recognition he deserves."