Edwin Russell Reid was born in Chicago on May 16, 1919, and later moved with his family to Downers Grove, where he attended high school.
On January 11, 1944, Reid died when his plane went down in Germany. Before the crash, he kept the aircraft aloft long enough for his crew to bail out. He was awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and is buried in Belgium.
His name is engraved on the plaque at Memorial Park in Downers Grove honoring local servicemen who never returned home from World War II.
Sources: FamilySearch
