Elwood O. Wells was born in Epsom on August 20, 1917 to Walter Brackett Wells and Sophronia M. Yeaton. He attended Epsom Schools and graduated on June 19, 1931. He next attended the University of New Hampshire where he was a member of the cross country team, member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, American Society of Civil Engineers, the Scabbard and Blade Honor Society and the ROTC.

It was June 2, 1941, following his junior year at UNH, that he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces, entering Parks Air College in St. Louis, Illinois. By September he advances to Aviation Cadet at Randolph Field in Texas, then being transferred to an advanced flying school in November at Victoria, Texas. Mr. Wells was commissioned a Lieutenant in January of 1942 and began instructing cadets at Enid, Oklahoma. On June 2 of that year he was shipped overseas as part of the India-China Transport Service.

He was Killed in Action on August 25, 1944 in a plane crash over the Himalaya mountains and is now buried in the New Rye Cemetery, Epsom, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, USA. CPT Wells was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com