Service Medals of Dr. Wells and Nurse Mary Wells
From the Health of a Town exhibit
Dr. Orion Vassar Wells was born in Bakersfield, VT, 1880. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1906, and practiced in Westford. The Westford Wardsman once stated, “Get Wells and Get Well.” He was a member of the American Medial Assoc., Massachusetts Medical Assoc., Massachusetts Medical Society, Spalding Light Cavalry Assoc., and William Norn Lodge of Masons. At the outbreak of WWI, he was a surgeon in Company L, MA State Guard, and by 1917, became First Lieutenant of the 19 Regiment’s Medical Department, awaiting deployment to France. During the 1918 flu outbreak, prior to deployment, Dr. Wells died of pneumonia brought on by the flu. He was posthumously promoted to Captain.
Mary Alice (Morill) Wells (1881-1972), the doctor’s wife, was a nurse in town. She worked at the Abbot Worsted Co. Hospital. Their daughter, Elizabeth (1909-1965), was also a nurse in Westford.
Dr. Wells’ service medals were presented during the town’s belated WWI Welcome Home Celebration on January 29, 1920. Many of the medals were presented posthumously. They were made by W&H and Co of Newark, NJ. On the reverse of the bronze medal with an eagle, it states, “Presented by the citizens of patriotic service in the World War 1917 — 1919.” The other two were for civilian service: The American Medical Association and American Red Cross.
The other pins belonged to Mary Wells. Both were from the Abbot Worsted Co. The smaller of the two, with the ram’s head, was for five years of service. The larger was for service in the company’s Ambulance Corps.
The medals were donated by the Wells’ great-grandson, Brian Hayes, of Fitchburg.
Pins
Metal, bronze, fabric ribbon
W.2011.28.2-5