Graham Raymond Betts was born on 12 December 1924 at Chattanooga, Tennessee, the son of Russell Wood Betts and Mary Elizabeth McFarlane.
Died 5 January 1945
Buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery
Private First Class
Infantry
PFC Betts was initially buried at Henri-Chapelle American War Cemetery in Belgium.
The Chattanooga Daily Times, 28 March 1945
Pfc. Graham R. Betts, was reported killed in action in Belgium. Pfc. Betts, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Russell W. Betts, 312 Pine Ridge Road, had been previously listed as missing in action. Pfc. Betts was graduated from Chattanooga High School in 1942. He entered the University of Tennessee School of Engineering at Knoxville, but at the end of one year he entered the army. Last summer he was transferred from a specialized army training program to the infantry and soon after that he went overseas. There, serving with the spearhead of the 30th Division, he helped to stop the German counter-attack in Belgium last December.
He was the brother of Capt. Russell W. Betts Jr., of the army transport command, now stationed in Canada. Pfc. Betts was praised recently in a letter by his commanding officer, Lt-Col. W.B. Lovelady of Soddy, Tenn. In that letter, dated Dec. 25, Col. Colelady told of spending Christmas Eve reading a copy of The Chattanooga Times with Pfc. Betts. He wrote that Betts, “a Chattanooga boy” is “in my outfit and in the thick of the no-quarter-asked-no-quarter-given bettle now going on.
Picture from the Chattanooga High School Yearbook 1942
- Rank: Private First Class
- Date of birth: 12 December 1924
- Date of death: 5 January 1945
- County: Hamilton
- Hometown: Chattanooga
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: Infantry
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Chattanooga National Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar X, Middle Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Graham R. Betts
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