[1] Following his World War II service, he attended the University of Michigan and then went to Ecuador as the infantry adviser on the U.S. military mission there.

In November 1968 Gettys' command and control UH-1 helicopter crashed after which he was pulled from the wreckage by his assistant chief of staff of operations, Major Colin Powell, for which he was awarded the Soldier's Medal.

[1] In 1973 Gettys despatched 13 soldiers of the 172nd Arctic Light Infantry Brigade on 10 Ski-Doo snowmobiles to ostensibly "test the long-range travel reliability of snowmobiles for their usefulness in Arctic warfare" and led to the establishment of a trail from Skwentna which would be the route of the inaugural Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

[3] He died of cancer on November 20, 1982, at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.