Find a grave jacksonville illinois3/24/2024 ![]() ![]() “It was unreal to be there in person and gave me a sense of closure even though I never knew this gentleman. “Visiting the grave was unreal it didn’t feel real,” said Bettis. Ray Shearer, and he contacted the cemetery staff.”Īt the cemetery, Bettis was escorted by the cemetery staff to his relative’s gravesite. “I spoke with the guide for our trip, Mr. Scott Hart, administration chief at Plans, Policy, and Operations and the staff noncommissioned officer in-charge of the PME trip. Bettis talked to me after formation to see if he could visit his family member’s grave,” said Master Sgt. On the third day, the Marines visited landing sights of the D-Day invasion and the Normandy American Cemetery. The trip took place May 23-27, 2016 with more than 70 Marines in attendance. “When this trip came up, I felt my time had come.” “My great-grandfather had told me if I ever had the chance to make it there, I should take the opportunity,” said Bettis. During a meeting, the idea of Marines from the battalion going on a professional military education trip to Belleau, France was mentioned, initially Bettis didn’t know the trip would include Normandy. It was like holding a piece of history.”īettis serves as the vice president of the Headquarters and Service Battalion, Headquarters Marine Corps, Henderson Hall Single Marine Program. “I can only imagine how she must have felt. “It was really surreal to me holding something his mother held when she found out that her son had been killed,” said Bettis. Then a letter came in September 1944 from the War Department’s adjacent general informing Carlton’s next of kin of his death on June 7, 1944. The papers included a letter sent during July 1944 to inform his family Carlton was critically wounded. Papers and letters about Bettis’ great-great-uncle were kept by his family and passed down to his mother who gave them to Bettis. Carlton, and according to Bettis, no one had ever visited his grave at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville sur Mer, France. “No one had talked about him as time went on and the subject was only brought up after watching the movie.”īettis started researching and talked with his great-grandfather, learning his relative’s name was Alfred H. “I was shocked to find out I had somebody who was there, killed in the invasion and buried in Normandy,” said Bettis. His great-grandfather mentioned that his brother in-law was a soldier in World War II who was killed in the invasion of D-Day. One day when visiting his great-grandfather, Bettis talked about how much he enjoyed the movie and had also started reading military history by Stephen Ambrose. “I would watch the opening scene over and over again,” said Bettis, a Jacksonville, Illinois native. He was particularly captivated by the opening scenes showing the massive invasion of United States troops on the beaches of Normandy, France, June 6, 1944. Joshua Bettis, an outbound clerk in distribution management office at Henderson Hall became interested in the military after watching the movie Saving Private Ryan when he was around the age of 12. Names cannot be added to the listing if a government grave marker was not furnished for the grave or if the existing government grave marker was furnished prior to 1997.COLLEVILLE SUR MER, France - Cpl. To report incorrect information about a Veteran that received an urn or plaque benefit or a Veteran buried in a private cemetery, contact us online through Ask VA.If your search returns incorrect information about a Veteran or family member buried in a national cemetery, please contact the cemetery directly to discuss your findings.For more complete information concerning individual records, we suggest you contact the cemetery or local officials. Incorrect information can be corrected, but we are unable to add to the information contained in the existing record.Information on Veterans buried in private cemeteries was collected for the purpose of furnishing government grave markers and we do not have information available for burials prior to 1997. The sources provide varied data some searches may contain less information than others.The urn/plaque records from VA and the burial records from many sources are updated daily.Search the NGL for Veterans that received an urn or plaque benefit from VA.Search the Nationwide Gravesite Locator (NGL) for burial locations of Veterans and their family members in VA national cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, various other military and Department of Interior cemeteries, and for Veterans buried in private cemeteries when the grave is marked with a government grave marker.Searching Burial and Urn/Plaque Information ![]()
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