Apopka local, Capt. Richard H. (Dick) Wells lost his life in an air crash in Europe. Capt. Wells was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Wells, who resided at Dream Lake. Capt. Wells enlisted in the air forces in the United States Army, and received promotion to captain in August 1942. He frequently wrote to his parents who received his last letter written on the morning of New Year's Day, the day that he lost his life.**

Capt. Wells is survived by siblings Miss Betty Wells and Robert L. Wells of Grand Rapids, Mich., and his grandfather, Uncle Lee Wells. On his last visit home in October 1941, he saluted Apopka in one of the newer P-38 planes he was piloting. He was buried in American Cemetery in England.

**This is curious as the Army Records in the Registry on the World War II Memorial web site indicate he died on January 13, 1943.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=wells&GSfn=richard...

Check out information in the Registry at the World War II Memorial.

https://www.wwiimemorial.com/Registry/plaque_wardept.aspx?honoreeID=1021716

https://www.wwiimemorial.com/Registry/plaque_cemetery.aspx?honoreeID=703883

Here’s the list of causalities from one of the databases on the above site. It shows Wells listed under Orange County.

https://nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com/arcmedia/media/images/28/27/28-2...

For more information see Special to the Sunday Sentinel-Star January 24, 1943, page 19