Dean Laird

Dean Samuel "Diz" Laird was born in Loomis, California. His nickname came from the popular baseball player "Dizzy Dean." He played baseball in high school and had already earned a pilot’s license by the time the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

On December 7, 1941, Laird drove to San Francisco to enlist. He entered the U.S. Navy cadet program and became a commissioned officer on August 11, 1942. On October 21, 1942, in NAS Miami, Florida, he officially became a Naval Aviator.

Laird shot down 5.75 enemy aircraft in combat and damaged another. Two of his kills were German planes—a Ju 88 and a He 115—in October 1943 near Norway. The remaining victories were Japanese planes, making Laird the only Navy ace to score air victories against both Germany and Japan.

He initially flew F4F Wildcats and later transitioned to F6F Hellcats. From November 1942 to March 1943, he was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4). From November 1944 to March 1945, he served aboard the USS Essex (CV-9).

In December 1944, Laird was nearly shot down. His F6F Hellcat was riddled with bullets over the Philippines, but he managed to fly 250 miles back to the USS Essex. With his landing gear inoperable, he executed a belly landing, skidding the aircraft across the carrier deck.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on February 7, 1945. During that mission near Tokyo, Laird was escorting bomber planes attacking heavily defended Japanese aircraft engine factories. He shot down two enemy aircraft.

After the war, Laird continued to break barriers. In 1969, he served as a stunt pilot for the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, performing many of the aerial stunts and helping choreograph the reenactment of the Pearl Harbor attack. He flew approximately 164 hours during production and was one of the film's three lead stunt pilots.

In 1958, Laird moved to Coronado, California, where he co-owned and operated the Coronado Municipal Golf Course restaurant. In 2015, he relocated to Walnut Creek to be closer to his daughter and her family.

Courtesy of the American Veterans Center and Wikipedia.com