Reid, Roy

Col. Ernest “Roy” Reid was involved in one of the famous moments – and photographs – of the Second World War, after he landed his B-17 at Hickam Field, Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941.  Col. Reid is deceased, so his story is told here by his daughter Joan Ahrens and her husband Buzz, showing that oral history is indeed a multigenerational effort.  Roy was born April 13, 1920, so he grew up during the Depression, and was deeply impacted by it; like many of his generation, he was conditioned to reuse things.  He decided to join the armed forces in early 1941, and had completed his pilots’ training not too long before that fateful flight to Hawaii.  After Pearl Harbour, Roy headed to the south Pacific, where he was stationed in  New Guinea and Australia, and involved in the fighting at Rabaul.  Roy’s wife started raising their young family on the home front, and when he returned after the war, he returned to university and took a job at Macy’s.  But he decided to re-enter the air force a few years later, rising to the rank of colonel and serving at air force bases around the US and the world.  Crestwood students were fortunate to zoom with Joan and Buzz in May 2021.