“I’ll carry this flag to the grave if I must ‘cause it’s the flag that I love and a flag that I trust.” Hero Stars Honors Our American Hero LCpl Travis Nelson US Marine Hometown: Pace, Florida Travis Nelson attended Pace High School. He was in Navy Junior ROTC as well as the Young Marines of Pensacola. Travis grew up in a military family. He had the military in his blood growing up. That’s what he always wanted. He never faltered on that. Travis talked about the military a lot when he was young. He always wanted to be a Marine when he became a young man. He was devoted to his family, the soldier’s father said, and felt steeped in the military tradition of his kin. Travis' father Scott Nelson is an Army veteran, mother Beckie Nelson retired from the Navy and his grandfather was in the U.S. Air Force. Scott Nelson described his son has having had "a great love for the outdoors. He was always outside fishing and hunting. And he was a comical young man. He loved to make people laugh." Beckie Nelson Gold Star Mother - Every Breath, I Miss Him, My Son/Our Hero Marine Lance Cpl. Travis M. Nelson 19, Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died Aug. 18, 2011 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Nelson, who was killed on his first tour, had left behind a short note just in case he did return from the battlefield. It read: ‘Dear friends and family, if you are reading this, I didn’t get to come home. I love each and every one of you. I have no regrets, I died for a meaningful cause.’ Let the memory of Travis Nelson be with us forever..... "Semper Fidelis"

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