Morell Smith

Killed on the battlefields of France, this tragic WWI tale sent his prominent family into a downward spin.

By Peter Ciferri, BucksLocalNews.com

Newtown historian Mike Donovan says it's enough to make a movie - maybe even two.The story behind the death of Morell Smith doesn't end with the tragic tale of a Newtownian felled in the line of duty while serving his country, it continues on with the long and painful story of a prominent family crushed by their loss.

Ninety years ago last October, Smith was declared missing in action and later declared killed on the muddy battlefields of France.

He was the only Newtown resident killed in World War I and his legacy sparked Newtown's then newly-formed American Legion Post No. 440 to be named in his honor - a distinction still held today.

The son of Dr. Charles Smith and Mrs. Ann Smith of Newtown, Morell Smith was killed while patrolling with three other men at daybreak. According to newspaper reports, the volunteer patrol moved through a wooded area "in the cover of dawn," only separated by a few yards when "machine gun snipes opened up."

Three of the men were killed, with the other soldier escaping uninjured with bullet holes in his backpack. Smith's death was "instantaneous," but it would take six years for that message to reach his family and community.When word of his disappearance hit Newtown, Smith's father wanted answers. Devastated and enraged, Dr. Smith went to Washington some months later looking for closure - but all he got was a chillingly brief "mission in action" reply from government officials.

A cable delivered shortly after the visit further elucidated that "he was believed to have been killed and buried by the Germans."

"Lieut. Smith's body may lie on the slope by the foemen, who held the ground for some days, or it may repose at the great cemetery at Romague, nearby among the Unknown Dead," a newspaper article read. "It matters but little in the ultimate."

It would not be until July 3, 1924, after "an extensive and painstaking investigation," that the office of the Quartermaster General would finally report Smith's body was found and could be returned. He was, and is now, buried beneath a solemn boulder situated in Newtown Cemetery.

Just weeks before his death, Morell wrote his family, thanking them for sending "the photo of the Red Cross workers in Newtown" and describing the vibrant Bastille Day activities in France. He affectionately professed that more letters were on the way and championed his role as an American fighter.

But those letters would never come and Smith would never see the end of that fighting. For Dr. Smith, the pain of losing a son to the cold hand of war was too much to bear.

A prominent Newtown physician, Dr. Smith sunk into a deep and visible depression. Newspaper reports speak of him mourning after his son was taken at the hands of Germans.

"Close friends say he never fully recovered from the shock," a Newtown Enterprise story read. Reports also indicated the doctor's physical health also deteriorated.Then, on Dec. 11, 1927, at around 3 p.m., Dr. Smith wrote a note in his office reading, "I am going to see Stacy Brown [a lifelong friend of the Smiths] and then on to the cemetery." He repeated that same message to his wife and left his home never to return.When Mrs. Smith found the note, she called Brown to see if her husband was there.

Alarmed that the depressed man was missing, Brown rushed to the Newtown Cemetery where she found his car parked near the family plots.

She leapt from her vehicle and rushed to the grizzly and tragic scene. There, across a blanket stretched over his son's grave, lay the lifeless body of Dr. Charles Smith. He put five bullets in his heart that afternoon. Ann Smith died in 1945, her life torn by bullets in her son and husband.

Morell Smith's legacy continues to be honored.Each year, a Memorial Day dedication is held at his grave and recently, the U.S. government awarded him a Purple Heart - but the weight his life and death left on his family could never be lifted.