Supervisors Pass Resolution Renaming Street In Memory Of Newtown Soldier

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — A township road will soon bear the name of a Newtown soldier killed in action during World War I.

At the request of American Legion Post 440, the township supervisors on Wednesday approved a resolution ceremoniously naming Linden Avenue “Morell Smith Avenue.”

Linden Avenue, a small residential street connecting the Newtown-Richboro Road with Swamp Road, is home to Post 440, which also bears the Morell Smith name.

Supervisor Kyle Davis, the commander of Post 440, said the post is planning an open house on Saturday, June 13 to dedicate ceremonial signage at both entrances to the street.

(Jeff Werner/Patch)

Veterans pause at the grave of Morell Smith each Memorial Day to remember his service and sacrifice. (Patch photo)

“One of the main reasons we have a post is to honor those who served, especially those who served and died,” said Davis. “It’s our ongoing responsibility to make sure we honor them.”

In addition to the legion post bearing his name, every Memorial Day the post members begin their Memorial Day observance by laying a wreath and firing salutes at Smith’s gravesite at the Newtown Cemetery.

The following biographical information is taken from "The Story of Morell Smith (Revisited)" compiled by Mike Donovan and Jon Guy.

Morell Smith was born in Newtown on Sept. 3, 1888, to Dr. Charles and Maria Anna Stackhouse Smith. His mother was one of two Registered Nurses in Pennsylvania. His father was a family physician in Newtown and president of the Bucks County Medical Society from 1909 to 1910.

The family lived at 1 South State Street where the elder Smith operated his family medical practice.

Young Morell attended Newtown Public Schools before enrolling at George School. After graduating from George School with the Class of 1907, he attended and graduated from Penn State in 1911.

In 1913, he worked as a superintendent at Pulitzer/Whitney Kiluna Farm in Long Island.

When the U.S. joined the war in 1918, Morell joined the service in and was commissioned in France in June 1918.

“I feel that I will enjoy military life and am going into it with my whole heart,” wrote Morell in 1917.

Smith was killed in action on October 18, 1918, in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

The final letter home from Morell Smith to his parents was written on October 14, 1918, four days before his death. The letter has been lost, but some of the words were: "Mud was very deep, country and roads rough, exposed to long-range gunfire by day, bombing raids by night. Food conditions were bad; kitchens were in the rear, unable to be brought forward. Immediately before action on the front line, many of the men were ill.”

According to the History of the 310th Infantry, Morell was slightly injured early in the morning on Oct. 18. He was last seen in the Bois des Loges as he started back for the Battalion Aid Station, accompanied by his orderly.

The remains of Morell Smith and his orderly, Private Augustino Ruggiero, were discovered in mid-1924, and identified by their ID tags. Their bodies were likely covered up by dirt from artillery bursts, but were agonizingly close to where the original search had been conducted.

On Oct. 18, 1924, Smith's remains were returned to Newtown and buried at the Newtown Cemetery where he is remembered every Memorial Day before the start of the parade.