The remains of a Merchant Marine who was killed during World War II were laid to rest alongside his parents at Wesley Chapel Cemetery east of Armstrong on Saturday. Elvis Nelson Spotts received a burial with full military honors.

Born in Clifton Hill, Mo. on October 6, 1925, Spotts enlisted on October 5, 1943, in Denver, Colo. He died on February 22, 1944, when he was electrocuted during bilge maintenance while aboard the SS Cape Isabel while bringing supplies to Betio Island  off the coast of Tarawa Atoll.

Originally buried in the U.S. Marine Cemetery on Betio Island, his remains were located in 2017 and identified a year later. Next of kin was notified, but declined to work with the Navy to give his uncle a final resting place.

Spotts’ first cousins were Glenn Collier of Fayette and Bill Markland of Armstrong. His closest living descendants in the Fayette area are Linda Frink, Susan Donnelly, Mary Jarboe, and John Markland.