Samuel Reid
| Date and Place of Birth: | Babylon, Long Island, NY |
| Date and Place of Death: | August 22, 1918 Chery-Chartreuve, France |
| Baseball Experience: | College |
| Position: | Catcher/Shortstop |
| Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Military Unit: | Battery A, 306th Field Artillery AEF |
| Area Served: | France |
Samuel J. Reid, Jr., was born in Babylon, Long Island, New York. He
attended Brooklyn High School where he played baseball and quarterbacked
the football team. From there he went to Princeton and was a member of
the school’s football and baseball teams for four years. Starting as a
catcher his freshman year, he later played third base and shortstop. In 1906 – his
senior year – he captained the baseball team to a 20-7 won-loss record.
A graduate of New York Law School, Reid was a member of the Wall Street
law firm of Morgan, Carr & Baiter. He was also an Assistant United
States District Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Reid
continued to play baseball during this time with the Crescent Athletic
Club.
With the United States’ entry into the First World War, Reid was
commissioned a lieutenant at Plattsburg Camp, New York on August 15,
1917 and joined the 306th Field Artillery the following week. After
training at Camp Upton, the 306th sailed for France on April 23, 1918. As
commanding officer of Battery A, Lieutenant Reid was involved in the
Vosges and Vesle campaigns. He was killed in action on August 22, 1918
at Chery-Chartreuve. Details of his death were passed to his family by
Lieutenant William Armstrong who served in the same battery and returned
to the United States as an instructor. Armstrong had described how Reid
was killed when engaged in the rescue of a soldier who had been buried
in a dugout which had been wrecked by a German shell. Reid extricated
the soldier and was carrying him on his back to a first aid station when
a shell exploded at his feet killing both officer and private.
Reid was the first man in his battery to be killed. His men buried him
on the spot where he died erecting a small cross in his memory. It read:
“Lieutenant Samuel J. Reid, Jr., Battery A, 306th Field Artillery,
A.E.F. Killed in action August 22nd, 1918. A leader and inspirer of men
in life and in death.”
A memorial service for Lt. Reid was held at Grace Presbyterian Church on September 29, 1918.
Date Added June 8, 2012. Updated January 15, 2013
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