Somme American Cemetery France

Somme American Cemetery France

Private Walter Heltmark

Private Walter Heltmark was the son of John and Catherine Heltman. He was born and raised in Trotter. Walter was the first Fayette County man to die in WWI. He is buried at the Somme American Cemetery in Bony, France.

Assigned to the 320th Infantry Regiment 80th Division

KIA August 13, 1918

The WWI Somme American Cemetery and Memorial in France is sited on a gentle slope typical of the open, rolling Picardy countryside. The 14.3 acre cemetery contains the graves of 1,844 of our military dead. Most lost their lives while serving in

American units attached to British armies, or in operations near Cantigny. The headstones, set in regular rows, are separated into four plots by paths that intersect at the flagpole near the top of the slope. The longer axis leads to the chapel at the eastern end of the cemetery.

A massive bronze door surmounted by an American Eagle leads into the chapel, whose outer walls contain sculptured pieces of military equipment. Once inside, light from a cross-shaped crystal window above the marble altar bathes the subdued interior with light. The walls bear the names of 333 of the missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.