James M. Curran, of Pine Island, NY, serving with the United States Navy in Virginia, passed away on April 15, 2012 in Virginia. He was 24 years old.
Born on April 25, 1987 in Nyack, NY, he was the son of Jeanette and William Shanahan.
He was married to Alanna Marie (Dickten) Curran, formerly of Warwick, NY.
James was a 2005 graduate of Warwick Valley High School, a member of the HOGS (Harley Owners Group), and participated in the Ride for Autism in 2012.
Constructionman Curran was a Navy Seabee and was assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group TWO, Logistics and Support Unit. Hailing from Pine Island, NY, he joined the Navy in November of 2006. He attended Navy boot camp at the Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes, Illinois, and graduated in January, 2007. After basic training, he was assigned to the Naval Construction Training Center at Gulfport, Mississippi from January to March, 2007. After his technical training, he reported to the Naval Special Warfare Group TWO, Logistics and Support Unit in April, 2007.
As a Seabee assigned to Naval Special Warfare, he made numerous deployments in support of Navy SEAL squadrons. He deployed to Iraq as a Combat Engineer in 2007 and 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2010, he deployed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on a humanitarian mission in support of Operation Unified Response, assisting victims of the January, 2010 earthquake. In 2011, Curran made another deployment to Iraq working with Special Operations Forces in support of Operation New Dawn. He is the recipient of the Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism (Expeditionary) Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Expert Pistol and Rifle Medals.
He is survived by his mother and father, Jeanette and William Shanahan of Pine Island; his wife, Alanna Curran of Warwick; a sister, Jeanna Curran of Pine Island; a brother, Cole Shanahan of Pine Island; sister-in-law, Alycia Dooley of Warwick; his in-laws, Vern and Denise Dickten, of Warwick.
Visitation will be on Monday, April 23rd, from 2-4 & 7-9 pm at Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 17 Oakland Avenue, Warwick. Funeral Mass will be at 10:00am on Tuesday at St. Stephens RC Church, followed by interment in Orange County Veterans Cemetery, Goshen.
Memorial donations may be sent to: Motorcycle Riders Foundation Awareness & Education, Inc., 236 Massacchusetts Ave NE #510, Washington, DC 20002.