Marine Cpl. Kurt S. Shea

Died May 10, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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21, of Frederick, Md.; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died May 10 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

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New details on Lejeune-based casualties

Staff report

Military officials released new details May 11 regarding the three North Carolina-based Marines killed this week while serving in Afghanistan.

The most recent death occurred May 10, when Cpl. Kurt S. Shea, 21, of Frederick, Md., was killed while supporting combat operations in Helmand province. He was a radio operator assigned to 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in June 2007 and deployed to Afghanistan in November. The incident is under investigation, according to a Marine Corps news release.

The two other Marines died as the result of hostile incidents. They were Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Davis, 19, of Perry, Iowa, and Lance Cpl. Christopher Rangel, 22, of San Antonio.

Davis, a machine gunner assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, was killed May 7. He enlisted in March 2009 and deployed to Afghanistan in March of this year.

Rangel died May 6. He served as a fire team leader assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, and enlisted in April 2007. He had a previous deployment to Iraq in 2008 and arrived in Afghanistan in January.

Further details regarding the circumstances of their deaths were not immediately available.

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‘He wanted to protect’

The Associated Press

Kurt Shea was used to being a protector. Being a boss, though, was new territory for him.

He would ask for advice after being promoted to corporal, said his mother, Linda Shea. He was more firm when it came to the boys who started noticing his little sister, Olivia, who is in high school.

“Kurt reminded her to remind them that her brother’s a Marine,” Linda Shea said.

The 21-year-old Marine from Frederick, Md., was killed May 10 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The radio operator was assigned to Camp Lejeune. He graduated from Frederick High School.

Shea liked to have a little taste of home overseas, asking his family to send him Girl Scout peanut butter cookies and Hostess banana cupcakes.

Even as a young boy, Shea would scrawl pictures of Army men with his crayons, his mother said. When he grew up, he was still attracted to the military — now for its discipline.

“He was always respectful, he became more respectful” when he joined, his mother said. “He was always mature, he became more mature.”

Shea had hoped to study kung fu when he came home, said friend Jonathan Adler. After the service, he hoped to pursue a career in law enforcement or criminal justice.

“He wanted to protect,” Linda Shea said. “He’s a big brother.”