Martin Lynn Shelton was born June 4, 1894, in Fayetteville to Hugh Kingston Shelton and Susan Walker Shelton. He graduated from Fayetteville High School and attended the University of Arkansas.
He and his brother Earl moved Los Angeles, Calif., sometime after his sophomore year at the university. They rented a house in the South Park Community, and Lynn got work as a draughtsman for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. When America entered World War I, Lynn enlisted for military service in 1917.
He served in the U.S. Army during the war as a private in the Medical Detachment Company of the 1st Machine Gun Battalion, 1st Infantry Division. While trying to help fellow wounded soldiers get to safety, Shelton was killed in action on May 28, 1918, a week before his 24th birthday, and was buried in the Somme American Cemetery at Bony, France.
He was cited by the division commander for conspicuous gallantry in action.
The American Legion Post established in Fayetteville was named in his honor. Since then, the names of two more veterans have been added to the official name for the Shelton-Tucker-Craft American Legion Post 27.