Joseph F. Curreri, Army, Staff Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Joseph F. Curreri, 27

Army, Staff Sergeant

Based: Ft. Lewis, Wash.

2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne)

Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom

Died: October 27, 2007
Siet Lake, Philippines

Single

Gender: Male

Hometown: Los Angeles

High School: Loyola Blakefield High School (Baltimore)

Burial: Los Angeles National Cemetery, Westwood

Born and reared in the suburbs of Baltimore, Curreri became a Civil War buff at an early age and a record-breaking swimmer. When he was 14, he swam across Chesapeake Bay and also founded the water polo team at his high school, the Jesuit-run Loyola Blakefield.

Coaches from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and elsewhere urged him to join their swim teams, but he fell in love with USC on a recruiting trip, his mother said.

"He was a dedicated Trojan," she said.

His Army buddies, some from competing colleges around the country, recounted how he would devilishly subject them to his singing of the USC fight song.

On the USC swim team, he was a member of a four-man relay team that took first place in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. Spring Nationals in 1999.

He qualified for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials and was voted captain of the swim team for the first half of his senior year....

In an essay titled "Why I wish to become a Green Beret," Curreri quoted President Kennedy about the few granted the role of defending freedom in the hour of maximum danger.

"When my children ask me what I did to avenge the assault of September 11th, I shall be able to look them in the eye, without a hint of hesitation, and respond that I answered the call of our nation," he wrote.

Curreri joined the Army in 2004 and was assigned as a Special Forces communications sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Ft. Lewis, Wash.

He was part of a group helping to train Philippine government troops fighting Islamic militants in the nation's southern islands and was due to return to the United States with his group Nov. 8.

In addition to his wife and mother, Curreri is survived by his father, Frank, of Carney, Md.; his stepmother, Tricia; and two sisters, Shannon Trevino of Laguna Beach and Angelina Curreri of Carney, Md.

The family asks that any donations be made to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation --  which provides scholarships and counseling to children of fallen military personnel.

Please read the entire LA Times article about Army Staff Sergeant Joseph F. Curreri hereand read more here, here and here.