Worthington W. Betts

Rank: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps

Serial: 00479530

Unit: Company A, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division

Entered service from: Pennsylvania

Died: June 17, 1944

Burial: Missing in Action or Buried at Sea — Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii

Awards: Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation

Private First Class Worthington W. Betts was the son of John and Marion Betts. The family had lived at 611 Cherry Street in August of 1935, and later at 634 Spruce Street in Camden NJ. There he lived across the street from Albert Luzi, who also went into the Marines, and Joseph Becker, who went to the Army. He had worked for the R.M. Hollingshed Corporation in Camden prior to his joining the Marines.

With Company A, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, he saw action at Tarawa and in the Marianas before suffering wounds on Saipan on June 15, 1944. Taken aboard the hospital ship USS Sheridan, he died of his wounds on June 17, 1944 and was buried at sea.

Worthington W. Betts was survived by his mother, Miriam Betts, and a sister, also named Miriam. His death was reported in the September 11, 1944 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. Mrs. Miriam Betts became active in the Camden County chapter of the Gold Star Mothers of America.