Russell Olson served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a Second Lieutenant with the109th Aero Squadron. A Pilot, he was killed in a plane crash on January 17, 1926 in Minnesota. He had earlier been in an accident when he swerved to avoid a child who had gotten in front of his plane on the runway. Six weeks before his accident, he had flown in broken formation and scattered roses over the cortege of a flyer who had been killed in a similar accident.
