Everest Fredrick Waid was born November 17, 1906 in Riverside, California. His parents were Jacob Giles Waid and Hattie Celinda (Boyd) Waid. Everest enlisted in the Army Air Force on August 8, 1928 and served as a Sgt. Air Mechanic 1^st Class in the 11^th Bombardment Squadron, 7^th Bombardment Group at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California. His commanding officer was Major Carl Spatz. For four days in January 1932, the 11th dropped over 43,000 pounds of food to snowbound Indian's in Northern Arizona and New Mexico. He was proud to be part of that operation and was awarded the Mackay Trophy for "Notable Aerial Achievement."

He earned the rank of Master Sergeant in 1940 and was stationed at Wheeler Field, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, and in Saipan during WWII. Waid married Marjorie Turner, also of Riverside, on May 14, 1932 in Kingston, Washington, and had three children. During his station at McChord Air Force Base in Washington, Everest died of a heart attack on December 28, 1951 while on vacation in Glendale, California. He was cremated and his ashes were dropped from an F-94-A jet fighter over Mt. Rainier in Washington State.

Link to the collection's Descriptive Finding Guide.

Link to images from the collection on Flickr.