Russell A. Kurtz
Profile
Age: 22
From: Bethel Park, Pa.
Assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska
Incident: Army Sgt. Russell A. Kurtz died Feb. 11 of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations in Fallujah, Iraq.
Died: February 11, 2007
Soldier killed in explosion in Iraq, family says
The Associated Press
BETHEL PARK, Pa. � An Alaska-based soldier from western Pennsylvania was killed in an explosion in Iraq, his family said Monday.
Sgt. Russell Kurtz, of Bethel Park, Pa., who turned 22 last month, was a passenger in a Humvee that hit an improvised explosive device at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, said his mother, Jill Kurtz. Military authorities said they could not immediately confirm the death.
�He was doing what he wanted to be doing,� she said.
Russell Kurtz was interested in military history from an early age and enlisted as a senior in high school, although he had been accepted at colleges.
Jill Kurtz said her son �decided that he had to do something he didn�t want others over there fighting and dying without him being willing to do the same, and we supported him.�
Russell Kurtz played football and baseball in school and loved the...