Warren R "Russell" Lobdell was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When war broke out he was a student at the local Louisiana State University. He enlisted in the Army Air Force on June 15, 1942, and was selected as an Air Cadet at the San Antonio Aviation Classification Center at Kelly Field in San Antonio, TX, Cadet Squadron 113. There he began his flight training with the first of several phases, Pre-Flight. From there, he moved on to Primary, Basic and Advanced training.

His Primary training was conducted at Stamford Flying School in Stamford, TX on May 23, 1943. He moved on to Basic flight training at Enid Army Flying School Enid, OK graduating on approximately Aug 27, 1943. His Advanced flight training was at Foster Field, Victoria, TX and he competed the program on approximately Nov. 1, 1943, class 42J. At this point, Russell was commissioned as a second Lieutenant and earned his wings.

Following advanced training Russell was sent to Fighter Training at the newly established P-47 program at Harding Field, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, his hometown. He completed this program in January of 1944, class 44-A the first P-47 class to graduate from the field. Russell was then sent to New York with a group of 200 pilots, to await shipment to England and the war.

When he arrived in England he was first placed with the 495th Fighter Training Group, at Atcham airfield outside of Shrewsbury, England. Here Russell and the rest of the group he had sailed with, were given training by combat veterans in the tactics they would use when they reached their permanent assignment.

At the close of this training, Russell was assigned to the 366th Fighter Squadron, 358th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force, based in High Halden, England. Russell recorded his first impression of the rather primitive field in one of his letters "[We] reached our location and [I] am still puzzled as to its category. I think during some inspection, an officer, no doubt, found an open field in England and said 'Well, we'll call this the 358 group!' I think they meant it for the dumb Infantry and not for the glamour boys of the air." Russell was housed in a dirt floor tent with four other pilots, and began his brief combat career.

While flying a mission on June 27th 1944 over France, Russell reported that he was low on fuel. His element leader, Erik Littlejohn, and he broke off to make the return flight to England. On the way, with little fuel and at low altitude, they were bounced by four German Bf 109 fighters. Littlejohn broke to the left, Russell to the right, and that was the last he was seen.