Donald Reed was born in Canada on August 16, 1922, and moved to Downers Grove with his parents in 1925. He attended the village’s grade and high schools, where he enjoyed playing the piano and participated in many extracurricular activities. After completing two years of college in DeKalb at what is now Northern Illinois University, he enlisted in the Army.
Reed served in the Pacific Theater as a navigator aboard a B-29 bomber in the Army Air Corps. On March 24, 1945, his plane departed on a mission near Nagoya, Japan. The following day, the War Department declared Reed and his fellow crew members missing in action. In February 1946, he was officially reported killed in action.
His younger brother, Alfred, also served during the war, assigned to an infantry unit in the U.S. Army Ground Forces.
His name is engraved on the plaque at Memorial Park in Downers Grove honoring local servicemen who never returned home from World War II.
