Curtis C. Morris was born on September 18, 1917, in Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, the second child of Pearl J. (O’Rear) Morris and Wilbur Dean Morris. He was married to Lorena Hollier. He worked at a door and sash factory before being called to active duty from the National Guard on November 25, 1940.

Following his call to active duty, Morris was assigned to the newly activated 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, and trained at Fort Benning, Georgia. He deployed to North Africa in May 1943 before making his first combat jump during the invasion of Sicily that July. In September, Morris returned to combat when the 504th parachuted into Italy to reinforce Allied forces at Salerno. He remained with the regiment through its continued fighting in Italy, where the 504th earned the nickname “Devils in Baggy Pants.”

In December 1943, Morris was wounded in the leg and head and hospitalized. After recovering, he returned to duty in February 1944. The following month, the 504th was relieved from combat and later transferred to England, arriving around April 20. Having endured months of fighting and needing replacements, Morris and the regiment were held in reserve and did not participate in the Normandy invasion.

On September 17, 1944, Morris and the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment jumped into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden. During the combat jump, the suspension lines of his parachute became tangled. Despite his efforts, he was unable to deploy his reserve parachute in time and fell through a tree onto a farm. Fellow paratroopers rushed the severely wounded Morris to a nearby barn, where they attempted to provide aid. Morris was killed during the Market Garden campaign on September 18, 1944. His remains were initially buried in the Netherlands. At his family's request, they were later returned to the United States and reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery on December 9, 1949.

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