Killed Less than a Month Apart in Normandy: Father and Son
Quick answer: Who are the father and son buried side by side at the Normandy American Cemetery?
Colonel Ollie W. Reed, commanding the 175th Infantry, 29th Division, was killed near Villebaudon in late July 1944. His son, 1st Lt. Ollie W. "Bud" Reed Jr., a platoon leader in the 91st Infantry Division, had been killed in Italy on July 6. They rest side by side in Plot E, Row 20, Graves 19 and 20.
In Plot E, Row 20, Graves 19 and 20 of the Normandy American Cemetery, a father and son lie side by side: Colonel Ollie W. Reed and First Lieutenant Ollie "Bud" Reed Jr. The elder Reed, a Kansas farmer's son, turned down West Point to stay near his sweetheart, Mildred, joined the National Guard, and made the Army his life. Bud followed him into service, graduated in 1942, and married the next day. In June 1944, Colonel Reed was in England, frustrated to be left out of the invasion, while Bud was in North Africa reassuring his wife, Laura, that he was safe. On July 4, from behind a haystack near Riparbella, Italy, Bud wrote Laura that he loved her and would think of her every day. Two days later, in his first combat, he was killed by artillery fire while getting his men to cover. In Normandy, his father was given command of the 175th Infantry, a regiment that had lost commander after commander. He wrote Mildred that he had learned what real prayer is. During the fighting after Operation Cobra, a German shell wounded him at a crossroads near Villebaudon, and he died before reaching an aid station. He never knew his son had died. In August 1944, Mildred received two telegrams on the same evening.
Why it matters for leaders: The cost of war lands on families all at once, and remembering them together keeps that cost honest.
Q: Where did Bud Reed die?
A: In Italy, near Riparbella in Tuscany, on July 6, 1944, in his first combat with the 91st Infantry Division.
Q: How did the family learn of their deaths?
A: Mildred Reed received two telegrams on the same evening in August 1944, one for her son and one for her husband.
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By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation