Edward Kurth

KURTH
Col. Edward H. Kurth, U.S. Army (Ret), a San Antonio resident since 1980, died on Thursday, July 16, 2009. Col. Kurth was born in Holyoke, MA, on October 28, 1915, the son of Max and Lillie Kurth, both of whom are deceased. After attending grade schools in Holyoke, he attended Williston Academy in Easthampton, MA, from which he graduated in 1935. While at Williston, Ed received a congressional appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point which he entered on July 1, 1935. World War II started in Europe in the summer of 1939, shortly after his graduation. He selected the Signal Corps as his branch in the Army. After assignments at Ft. Monmouth, NJ, Panama, Surinam and Trinidad, Ed, by then a Major, was given command of the 302 Sig. Opn Bn. at Camp Swift, TX near Austin. On February 1944, his battalion took over the signal operations for the 12th Army Group (Main) and participated in all of the European campaigns from Normandy, across France, into Germany and ending at Wiesbaden when the Nazis capitulated on May 8, 1945. That summer, the 302 Sig. Opn. Bn. was deactivated and Lt. Col. Kurth was assigned to the Continental Base Command at Bad Nauheim, Germany. While Ed was stationed at Camp Swift, he was introduced to Patricia (Pat) Malone, a student at the University of Texas. This chance meeting at a USO dance was followed by many more, and they became engaged. In February 1945, he was able to obtain leave to return to the U.S. He made haste for Austin, where Pat and he were wed on March 2, 1946. After the first year of married life in Bad Nauheim and their return to the U.S. in 1947, Ed was assigned by the Army as a student at Harvard Law School. Upon his graduation in 1950 with an L.L.B. (later converted to J.D.), he transferred to the Army Judge Advocates Corps. Subsequent, JAGC assignments followed at the Pentagon, to Japan and back to the Pentagon where he served as Chief, Procurement Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Army. On July 31, 1961, he took early retirement from the military and joined the Legal Dept. of Hercules, Inc., occupying the position of senior counsel until 1980 when he retired for a second time, and the Kurth Family moved to San Antonio. Since 1988, Pat and Ed made their home in the Towers (formerly known as the USAA Towers). Col. Kurth is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Pat; and is survived by his son, Edward, daughter-in-law Julia; grandsons Chase and Zachary; son Laurence, daughter-in-law Abby, granddaughters Dana and Erika; and son John, daughter-in-law Lisa, granddaughter Stephanie; all of San Antonio; and a sister, Dorothy Kurth Kelley of Chattanooga, TN.
MEMORIAL SERVICE
JULY 24, 2009
FRIDAY
11:00 A.M.
THE TOWERS
1 TOWERS PARK LANE
Interment in Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with full military honors. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made for a stained glass window in the new sanctuary at Northern Hills Methodist Church, 3703 N. Loop 1604., San Antonio, TX 78247.
You are invited to sign the guestbook as www.porterloring.com.
Arrangements with: