Russel was born in Upper Marlboro, Prince George’s County, Maryland. He used to go to Suitland Elementary School and Marlboro Elementary School and studied at Marlboro High School then. He enlisted on August 11, 1943, in Baltimore, Maryland. After training at the United States Army Air Forces, he was sent as a waist gunner with B-17G and its crew overseas and became a member of the 20th Bomb Squadron of the 2nd Bomb Group of the Fifteenth Air Force at Amendola Airbase close to Foggia, Italy. He was killed on August 29, 1944, while on a mission to Moravska Ostrava and Privoser Oil refinery. It was his 30th mission. He was buried on September 30, 1944, in Palkovice, Czechoslovakia. His body was exhumed on October 23, 1946, and transferred to the Lorraine American Cemetery at St. Avold, France. A few years later, he was exhumed again and transferred to the United States, where he was laid to rest on January 14, 1950, at Fort Lincoln Cemetery, Maryland.

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