"[4] A state funeral was held at Les Invalides, Paris; for his bravery and adherence to duty he was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel and made a Commander of the Legion of Honour.

After staff service with the Ministry of Ecology and post-graduate training in Business administration and Economy, he joined the Carcassonne Departmental gendarmerie unit in southwestern France in August 2017 as deputy commander.

At about 11 a.m. on 23 March 2018, Redouane Lakdim, a terrorist claiming allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), stormed a supermarket in Trèbes armed with a handgun, a hunting knife, as well as three homemade bombs.

[12][1] Beltrame was reared in a nonreligious family but, at age 33, he converted to Catholic Christianity, receiving the sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation in 2008 after spending two years as a catechumen.

[13] In 2015, he made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Sainte-Anne d'Auray, "where he asked the Virgin Mary to help him to meet the woman of his life" and shortly afterwards, "he became friends with Marielle, whose faith is deep and discreet.

[21] French flags and the banners of the Gendarmerie and the National Assembly were lowered to half-staff and many cities announced that streets, squares or buildings would be named in the colonel's honour.