Robert Ward Reed was the son of Willis S. Reed and Dora Isabel Stahly.
Died 23 January 1944
Second Lieutenant
33rd Fighter Group, 30th Fighter Squadron
2nd Lt Reed was the pilot of aircraft P-40F 10CU with serial number 41-14450. He departed from Cereola Airdrome in Italy on a patrol mission.
Statement from M/Sgt Dezo Romanovicz, Engineering Line Chief:
“On 23 January 1944, I certify that I was present on the flight-line during preflight for an early mission. I supervised the preflight and removal of wing aileron covers and the removal of all excess frost from the wings and control surface.
The mission was scheduled for take-off at 0615 with 2nd Lt Robert W. Reed in P-40F-10CU, A.C. No. 41-14450 scheduled for No. 4 position in a flight of twelve aircraft.
The first of lead ship was airborne at approximately 0620 without incident. The second aircraft ground-looped midway down the runway and had to be removed by a crash truck. After this aircraft was cleared from the runway, No. 3 aircraft made a normal take-off at approximately 0640. Aircraft No. 41-14450 made a normal take-off run and when at the approximate height of 50 ft. seemed to stall and fall to the left, the right wing hitting a tree approximately 70 ft. distance from the edge of the runway. The aircraft immediately burst into flames, making it impossible to rescue the pilot.”
He was initially buried at Naples Allied Cemetery at Naples, Italy and was reburied at Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy, Plot I, Row , Grave
The South Bend Tribune, 16 February 1944
Second Lieutenant Robert W. Reed, 26, son of Mr. and Mrs. Willis Reed, South Locke street, was killed in action Jan 23 in Italy, according to word received by his parents. He was a pilot of a pursuit plane. Before enlisting in May, 1942, Lieut. Reed was employed in the office of the Bendix Aviation corporation plant, South Bend. He was first sent to Baer field, Fort Wayne, Ind., and then successively to Santa Ana, North Palace and Lembore, Calif., and Tucson, Ariz., graduating from the army airfield in Yuma, Ariz. He was commissioned April 12, 1943, and sent overseas a month later. His parents recently received a letter from him, which he had written Jan. 12, stating he had returned to action after a stay in a rest camp, which followed combat duty. He was born Dec. 3, 1917 in Nappanee and attended school here, leaving Nappanee High school at the end of his second year for Middlebury. He was graduated from the high school there in 1935 and attended Indiana university, Bloomington, two years. Surviving are the parents, a brother, Harry E. Reed, South Bend, and two sisters, Mrs. Donald Tobias, Nappanee, and Mrs. Arthur Buchtel, Middlebury.
Picture from the Middlebury High School Yearbook 1946
- Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Date of birth: 3 December 1917
- Date of death: 23 January 1944
- County: Rhea
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 60th Fighter Squadron, 33rd Fighter Group
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XVI, Bottom Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Robert W. Reed
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