Wallace P. Reed

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Tuskegee Army Air Field
Commands heldWeather Officer
Awards
Alma materUniversity of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2LT Wallace Patillo Reed (November 22, 1919 – November 12, 1999) was a

African American Tuskegee Airmen. Reed regularly advised Tuskegee Airmen pilots and instructors on weather maps and forecasts.[1][2]

Reed is believed to have been the first ever African-American meteorologist at the

U.S. Weather Bureau, the predecessor organization of the National Weather Service.[1]

Early life

He was born on November 22, 1919, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Reed was the son of Ralph M. Reed Sr. and Mary Pattillo Reed.[3]

Graduating from Portsmouth High School in 1937, Reed attended the University of New Hampshire, where he earned a degree in mathematics.[4]

Military service

At the beginning of the 1940s, the U.S. Army possessed only 62 qualified weather forecasters. To remain a highly functional operation, the

Army Air Forces anticipated a minimal requirement of 10,000 weather forecasters and weather observers.[5]

To train a sufficient number of military weather forecasters, the Army Air Forces set up a weather cadet program in collaboration with the

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and a special Army Air Forces program in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[1]
The program's prerequisites included degrees in engineering, mathematics, physics, or chemistry, with a minimum of two years of coursework required in the program's later years. Through an extensive search for its second meteorological aviation cadet class in July 1941, MIT officials recruited Reed to join its program.

After graduating as a cadet and completing a three-week post-graduation military meteorologist orientation at

Tuskegee Army Air Field's inaugural Tuskegee Weather Detachment as base weather officer. Reed would become the first African-American meteorologist in the U.S. military.[1][5]

Reed assumed his new assignment three weeks after the March 7, 1942, graduation of Tuskegee's first fighter pilot class of cadets.[6]

Weather Officer Corps

As a lieutenant and as later as a captain, Reed created a fully operational weather station to provide up-to-date forecasts and weather briefings to flight school officers and instructors.[4] Reed led 15 enlisted men and officers, preparing several weather officers for deployment overseas. Four of Reed's officers would eventually be deployed with combat squadrons in the Mediterranean.[7] Though his weather detachment's officer corps represented only 0.2 percent of all U.S. military weather officers,[8] When he began his career at Tuskegee, Reed had five enlisted weathermen in his ranks, all of them trained at

Chanute Field. Upwards of forty enlisted men would work under Reed at Tuskegee. Based on performance and standardized testing, the vast majority of Reed's enlisted staffers were awarded the AAF Weather Observer Badge.[5]

Post-World War II

On March 11, 1946, Reed completed his military service.

U.S. Weather Bureau at Nichols Field in Manila, working there for over 30 years until returning to the United States years later.[1]

Living in Alaminos, Pangasinan, and Sampaloc, Manila, for 34 years, Reed met and married Raymunda N. “Nena” Medrano (March 15, 1924 ~ February 7, 2020), his wife for 46 years.[10] They had two children, son Reynoldo N. Reed and daughter Erlinda N. Reed.[3]

Death

On November 12, 1999, he died in

Los Angeles, California
. He is interred at Roosevelt Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e MIT Black History. "Tuskegee Airmen Connecting Flights at MIT."
  2. ^ a b U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010. "Wallace Reed."
  3. ^ a b Seacoast Online. "Obituaries from November 24, 1999: Wallace P. Reed."
  4. ^ a b Alicia Wasula. Weather Blog: Shade Tree Meteorology. "The Famous Tuskegee Airmen…and Meteorologists." June 4, 2020
  5. ^ a b c Joe Martucci, "Black Americans broke weather barriers during WWII, work still to go". The Press of Atlantic City, Feb 27, 2018.
  6. ^ National Park Service. "Who Are the Tuskegee Airmen?"
  7. ^ Air Force Weather Historian: A Quarterly Newsletter of the Air Force Weather History Office. Autumn 2004, Volume 2, Issue 4.
  8. ^ Tuskegee (Weather) Airmen Black Meteorologists during World War II. Gerald A. White Jr., staff historian -HQ Air Force Reserve Command.
  9. ^ Nellis Airforce Base. "Valentine's Day marks 1st for African American Meteorologist." Jerry White, 99th Air Base Wing Historian. February 21, 2012.
  10. ^ Lighthouse Memorials & Receptions. "Raymunda Medrano Reed." https://lafuneral.com/obits/raymunda-medrano-reed/
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