Raymond W. Reid entered the military service in North Carolina. He served in the 559th Bomber Squadron, 387th Bomber Group, Medium as a Second Lieutenant during World War II. He was the pilot of B-26G "TQ-M" which crashed in Switzerland on April 16, 1945. That day, the 387th Bomb Group started a bomb attack against a German supply depot in Kempten in the Allgäu, Germany. Before reaching the target area, the "TQ-M" had to turn off and drop the bombs in an emergency because the right engine began to smoke. A fire could be prevented, but shortly afterwards the lonely B-26 was covered with heavy flak fire. The right engine, which had already been shut down, was promptly hit, the propeller torn off and thrown against the fuselage. 2LT Reid had given the order to jump as a precaution. The two gunmen in the rear of the machine, Sgt Johnnie F. Jones and Staff Sgt Earl L. Theis, could not be told twice and immediately jumped over the Black Forest. Both were taken prisoner of war, with Jones escaping and deporting them to Switzerland two days later.

The rest of the crew members gathered in the cockpit decided to head for neutral Switzerland. The badly damaged B-26 flew over the Rhine near Wallbach, where, to make matters worse, it was also shot at by the Swiss anti-aircraft defense. Stear, Mercado and Bockhahn (bomb shooters) jumped off in the Möhlin area. Pilot Reid was the last to stay on board and may have tried to keep his doomed bomber as far away as possible from populated areas. He jumped off shortly before the aircraft bored into the "Chriesibärg" above Zuzgen. Unfortunately, the height of the jump was not enough to open the parachute. He was temporarily buried in what was then the American Cemetery in Münsingen, Switzerland. His final resting place is in Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France.

Source of information: https://www.jets-are-for-kids.ch