A Marine lance corporal based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms was killed Wednesday in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The Department of Defense said Lance Corporal. Curtis Duarte, 22, of Covina was killed in combat. Lance Corporal Duarte was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms. His unit is leading operations this summer in Sangin, an area in Helmand that has been the site of the heaviest casualties during the war in Afghanistan. The 1/7 Marines, of which Duarte was a member, replaced the 3/7, also based in Twentynine Palms, in Sangin in April.
