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| Elwood Wells became a captain who flew transports over the Himalayan Mountains. Here he is pictured with his wife Dorothy. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9760633&ref=acom |
Elwood O. Wells never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 20, 1917 in New Hampshire. His parents were also both born in New Hampshire. His father worked on his poultry farm and later worked for the state highway patrol. Elwood had an older brother, two younger sisters, and one younger brother. By 1940 Elwood had completed one year of college at the University of New Hampshire studying civil engineering. He was still living at home and working as a janitor.
On June 2, 1941, following his junior year at UNH, Elwood enlisted in the Army Air Corp. He was accepted to flight school and became a lieutenant and flight instructor by January 1942. A year later on January 14, 1943 he married his wife Dorothy Head. In June he shipped out to India where he was involved in the American effort to supply the Chinese war efforts via air routes over the Himalayan Mountains. He become a captain in the 1337 Army Air Force Base Unit at Sookerating, India.
A daughter who he never met was born in January 1944.
In the 13 months Captain Wells was based out of Sookerating, he no doubt made many successful flights to China. His luck ran out on August 25, 1944 when his plane crashed in the Himalayan Mountains. His remains were recovered and returned to his home town after the war.
His grave is at New Rye Cemetery, Epson, New Hampshire. I don't know what happened to his wife and daughter.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
To mark having over 100,000 visits to my project to honor the fallen of WW2 on their 100th birthdate, I created this video to share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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