WW II Knuckle-Buster Records His Memories

SPRINGVILLE - Laird Daniels' knuckles don't look any the worse for wear, but there were plenty of times decades ago while working on airplanes that he scraped them ‘till they bled.

"In New Hebrides," he says, "if you scraped the back of your hand, the flies there would keep it clean and infection free. But, it wouldn't heal."

So, Laird would grab a few band-aids and return to work.

But, after 26 months in the South Pacific, after 32 years teaching high school history, Laird never forgot those experiences. And what helps him remember, at 91 years of age, are the notebook diaries he's compiled under the title, "A Knuckle-Buster Remembers Men and Planes from World War Two."

There he is pictured with fellow mechanics in front of "Sea Bee III," a B-26 he served on as assistant crew chief in 1942 at New Caledonia.

And there are pictures and diagrams of other bombers he worked on - B-18s, B-24s, B-17s.

And there are the words, thousands of them, as he served in the 69th bomb squadron of the 38th bomb group.

Laird began to write his stories in a notebook on June 14, 1945, and didn't finish until after he'd retired in 1980 from teaching history at Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids. What makes the journals complete are the notes he includes, identifying every location, landmark and person.

"I could name a lot of them," Laird says, "but if I can't, it's right there."

Born west of Springville, Laird lived with his grandparents after his parents divorced. He assumed he'd become a farmer until his grandfather died.

As a result, he joined his father, Wes, a teacher in Norway, Iowa, and graduated in 1937. As a hired hand, a farmer suggested Laird enlist before he was drafted. On March 1, 1941, he joined the Navy, only to switch to the Army Air Corps on his father's advice.

Laird learned of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor as he and buddies came out of a movie in Jackson, Miss. Kids gave them a ride back to base in Vicksburg with the words, "Good luck."

His South Pacific tour began by loading and unloading fuel drums and 500-pound bombs before he became a mechanic. As a serviceman behind the scenes, he subtitled his journals "Memories of War by a Non-Hero."

"There are at least 20, 25 guys behind every guy up there shooting people down," Laird says.

Laird spent 55 days (1,320 hours) on troop transports, 380 hours flying (often to troubleshoot planes) and more than 1,000 hours busting his knuckles as he became a B-25 crew chief.

"When I came back from the war," he says, "I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life on my back under a car."

He did, however, work for a Cedar Rapids service station until word came about the G.I. bill which allowed him to graduate from Coe College in 1948.

He taught in Wapello and Osage before coming to Cedar Rapids. After retirement, he and his second wife, Flo, spent 16 years living in the Missouri Ozarks until they moved to Palo and then to Springville in 2008.

Laird had kept his journals in their finished Palo basement until floodwaters approached. He moved them to the first floor and then, with Flo's warning, to the second level where, luckily, this knuckle-buster's memories survive.

Comments: (319) 398-8323; dave.rasdal@sourcemedia.net