Sgt. Henry Burton Nelson, was killed in action in France on 25 November 1944. Another son, Lt. Norris A Nelson, had been missing in action over Boiugainville since 14 November 1943. Norris was the eighth child of Walter and Nellie Nelson. He grew to be 6'2 " tall and had blue eyes and light brown hair that turned darker and curly in his teens. His sister May fondly remembers afternoons of weeding potatoes and thinning beets with him, followed by a plunge in the nearby river. Norris was jolly and good natured as a boy. He enjoyed primary and particularly liked Emma Jensen as one of his teachers. When he was eleven, he was baptized twenty-nine times for the dead; then as a priest, he had the opportunity of baptizing his younger brother Kenneth. A leader and an athlete, he was president of his senior class and captain of the basketball team. He worked hard to go to college at both Utah State and Weber College. At Weber, he was captain of the college team and was noted most valuable player and chosen "all conference" center for 1939-40. At the outbreak of the War, he enlisted in the Air Force and graduated from bombardier flying school 13 August 1943. He had flown many successful missions and was ready to come home when a bombardier on another crew became ill and Norris was asked if he would take the other flyer's place. That plane never returned from its mission and was sighted going down in the Pacific.49 A few months before his death, Norris wrote home to his family and described his feelings about the War and his flying missions. He said, "Speaking of clouds, every time we fly through one, things seem dark, and then all of a sudden you break through and it sorta seems like a new world. Life is full of similar incidents. I'm reminded of a little verse I learned in high school. " 'So live that when the summons comes to join that innumerable caravan, which moves to that mysterious realm where each shall take his chamber in the silent halls of death—tho go not like a quarry slave at night—soothed and sustained by the unfaltering trust—approach the grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams.' "50 Burton was the tenth child in the family of eleven children. As an adult, he was 6'0" tall with dark wavy hair, dark brown eyes, and an olive complexion. His love of the mountains and horses was apparent very early in life; he also loved music and learned to play the guitar well without taking any lessons. When he was twelve years old, he had filled all the requirements of a Trailbuilder, knew his family history, learned the Articles of Faith, knew the names of the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles. After he was ordained a teacher, he often took his guitar with him when he went ward teaching; and when he and his partner were ready to leave, he would sing and play the family a song. Burton was inducted into the Army on 29 November 1943, only two weeks after Norris had been reported missing in action. On his last furlough home before going overseas, he visited with his sister in Salt Lake City. In the 157