Book features Howell soldier

HOWELL — He was a kid who never started a game in four years of high school football and never missed a practice. If Cpl. Michael Curtin, of Howell, had one outstanding trait, according to his family, it was dedication. Now featured as a main character in the nationally released book “My Country to Defend,” Curtin’s quiet and stoic demeanor has taken center stage.

Author A.E. Dimond originally set out to tell the story of an immigrant family whose son Pfc. Diego Rincon paid the ultimate price in Operation Iraqi Freedom beside Curtin.

The pair along with two other infantry soldiers from the Outlaw Platoon were the first known U.S. casualties of a suicide bomber during combat operations. Dimond spent months at Fort Stewart, Georgia, home to the 3D Infantry Division, and that time with the surviving soldiers changed everything.

“There was something special about this particular group of men and I couldn’t allow that kind of story to die on the sands of Al-Najaf, Iraq,” Dimond said. “People asked me what I’ve learned as I’ve written this story and I say I’ve learned two things: it may sound strange that in telling a war story, I’ve learned the goodness of the human heart; I’ve also learned that courage and conviction are timeless traits in America.”

With one-third of the book dedicated to the Outlaw Platoon, Dimond has been making her way to the hometowns of both the surviving and fallen soldiers.

“I promised the families that the first

stops for book signings and speaking engagements would be the communities that raised such commitment. Howell, the hometown of Cpl. Curtin, was at the top of the list,” she said.

According to a press release, Howell was a bedroom community hit hard by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Dimond said her visit to see the Curtin family for the first time on the third anniversary of the fall of the World Trade Center was a poignant one.

“I went to the cemetery where Cpl. Curtin was buried and the family pointed out two grave sites nearby. They were the resting places of two men who died in the twin towers. Not only did he give his life in the War on Terror, but Cpl. Curtin graduated from basic training just as the country experienced the most devastating event in modern history. The ironies were astounding: they eventually became the basis for the epilogue to the book,” she said.

Dimond attended a book signing with Curtin’s family at Barnes & Noble

Jan. 22.