John Prout West was born October 3, 1894, in Rutland, Vermont. During his two years at Phillips Academy, he sang on the Glee Club and made a commendable record in his studies. At Sheffield Scientific School [Yale], where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta, he graduated in 1916, and spent the following summer training with the Yale Battery. In May 1917, he attended the Plattsburg Officers' Training Camp, but in July went to Canada and enlisted in the Royal Air Forces. After a course of instruction in Canada, England and Scotland, he received his commission as Second Lieutenant on October 12, 1917. He was not ordered to combat duty until April, 1918, but he soon had three German planes to his credit and was making a reputation as a gallant and fearless fighterserveing with the 88th Squadron, RAF.. On June 28, however, he was overcome by an enemy airman and his body fell behind the German lines. Son of Charles H. and Mary Prout West, of 21, Cottage St., Rutland, Vermont, U.S.A.(from Phillips Academy, Andover in the Great War, ed. by Claude Moore Fuess; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1919)

A cenotaph remembers him at the Evergreen Cemetery
Rutland, Rutland County, Vermont,