Reed wrote 111 Days in Stanleyville after spending more than four years in Africa during seven trips there on writing assignments.
In 1960 he covered the independence push in Congo as a staff writer for the U.S. News & World Report magazine.
In the book, Reed wrote a series of sketches about what it was like to be up front with the soldiers in the combat zone in Vietnam.
[5] Jonathan Pettit (1752–1833), Reed's 3rd great-grandfather, served as a captain in the American Revolution in New York state.
David Reed was married to Marilyn "Mari" Chevalier, then of New York City, from 1961–1977, and had three children.
At different times while travelling the globe, he was based in New York, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, and Virginia.