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Family of fallen Airman visits clinic baring his name

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jerilyn Quintanilla
  • 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
Family of an Air Force senior NCO killed in 1985, recently visited the medical facility that now bears his name on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.

Members of the late Senior Master Sgt. David B. Reid's family paid a special visit to the Reid Clinic May 14 while touring the base.

Reid's sister, Becky Reid and her family traveled from North Carolina, 11 years after the clinic was posthumously dedicated in his honor. Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Edgar Anderson Jr., then the 59th Medical Wing commander, presided over the ceremony for the new Reid Health Services Center in March 1994.

A plaque honoring Reid can be found to the left of the building's front entrance. It is there that the family gathered 11 years later to pay homage to the former first sergeant, who perished while onboard a C-130 Hercules Jan. 22, 1985. The plane, carrying cargo and passengers, crashed while en route to care for troops at a temporary location in Honduras. At the time of his death, Reid was a first sergeant at the military hospital on Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.

During the visit, the Reid family received a special tour of the clinic and learned about the facility's medical mission, its operations as part of the 559th Medical Group, and of the clinic's rich history.

At the beginning of their careers, every enlisted military member receives medical care in this clinic, said Lt. Col. Chris Hudson, 559th Aerospace Medicine Squadron commander. "Not everyone knows the 559th, but when you mention Reid Clinic, they know what you're talking about."

The Reid Clinic serves as the medical hub for Air Force Basic Military Trainees and all Airmen attending technical schools on JBSA-Lackland.

"Coming back to Lackland was such a blessing for us," said Crystal Murphy, Reid's niece. "My uncle meant so much to us. We are fortunate, as a family, to be able to say there is a building named in his honor. The military and its people meant so much to him."