Massachusetts Medal of Liberty Awarded To Late Veteran Avery Skilton Bent

Share, email, print, bookmark SOURCE reports.

Editor’s Note: The City of Framingham awarded 17 Medals of Liberty to Gold Star Families on Memorial Day. As fallen veterans should not be honored only on Memorial Day, SOURCE is running the profiles on all 17 throughout over the next several weeks.

***

[broadstreet zone=”59982″]

FRAMINGHAM – The Massachusetts Medal of Liberty is awarded to Massachusetts service men and women, who have been killed in action or who died as a result of wounds received in action. It is bequeathed on behalf of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth.

The medal, designed by Sgt. Kristopher W. Adams, is heart-shaped to symbolize the Purple Heart and is attached to a 1 3/8 inch wide ribbon with a black border representing mourning. The centre of the medal bears a Gold Star symbolizing Gold Star Mothers Club. At the top centre of the medal is the coat of arms of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and on the rear side is the recipient’s branch of service and name with the words “In Honored Memory” engraved above and “Service and Sacrifice” below.

On Memorial Day 2022, the City of Framingham awarded 17 Medals of Liberty.

[broadstreet zone=”59983″]

One of the 17 was presented to Technician Fifth Grade Avery Skilton Bent. Bent resided in Framingham on Edgell Road when he was drafted into the United States Army. When he entered the service, he was assigned to the antiaircraft company and served with that unit in this country for two and half years.

He was then transferred to the US Army’s 134th Infantry and sent overseas, going into combat in
Europe, two weeks after he landed. Technician Fifth Grade Bent gave the ultimate sacrifice in Rhineland, Germany when he was killed in action on February 26th, 1945.

Accepting the Medal on behalf of Technician Fifth Grade Avery Skilton Bent was his niece, Perry Bent, from Framingham. The medal was pinned on Bent by former City Council Chair Dennis Giombetti, who is an aide to Senate President Karen Spilka.

[broadstreet zone=”59984″]

***