MEMORIAL SERVICE FORMER ALTON BOY
PFC. FRANCIS KETTLER
Mr. and Mrs. O. P. Kettler of Alton and Mr. and Mrs. Albert Probst, of Homer, Nebr., attended the memorial services at Mapleton for their nephew, Francis Kettler, son of Frank Kettler of Mapleton. The young man was killed in action in Germany, Dec. 7th, probably around Acken, since the family had Christmas cards mailed from Holland.
Mr. and Mrs. Kettler first received a message that their son was missing in action on Nov. 29. He was with the infantry, age 23, and had been prominent in athletics and music at Mapleton high school. He married Genevieve Sandvold Oct. 20, 1941, and had been in the Army since Dec. 26, 1942, leaving for overseas in September, 1944.
Pfc. Kettler’s mother was the former Ida Henkels of Alton, who died while he was a small boy. He is survived by his wife and daughter, Barbara Jean of Moorhead, his parents, a sister Joan at home and a brother, Sgt. Melvin Kettler, with the Army engineers in England.
Source: Alton Democrat, December 28, 1944
NOTE: Burial Record of Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia
Birth date: 18 Jul 1921
Death date: 09 Dec 1944 (note discrepancy in date of death in this obituary)
Interred overseas and then sent home to the USA for burial:
Arlington National Cemetery, Sec. 13, Site 685
Interred on 05 Aug 1949
