Curtis Alexander was born November 22, 1917 in Dunnavant, Shelby County, Alabama. He was the oldest son of Wiley and Hattie Harris Alexander. He had a brother and two sisters. His father was a farmer. He completed Grammar School (8th grade).

On October 16, 1940 Curtis registered for Selective Service and was drafted. He enlisted in the US Army on April 11, 1941 and went to Ft McClellan, Alabama for basic training (Service Number 34101114). From there he was sent to Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. In July, 1944 he was a Private First Class and came home to Dunnavant on furlough to visit his family. On July 9, he was found dead having been hit by a train near his home. He was 26 years old.

He was buried in the Dunnavant Community Cemetery.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

This story of a Shelby County Alabama hero was written by Steve Brannan, Meadowbrook, Alabama. If any reader has more accurate information on this hero, or a picture of Curtis, please email me at sbrannan@bellsouth.net. I am happy to update this story.

PFC Curtis Alexander