★★★ Memorial Monday ★★★
David Laird was a member of the Class of 1942 until June 1940 when he was "permitted to resign." On this date (July 26) in 1944 he was killed when the light bomber he was piloting crashed during an armed reconnaissance flight near Florence, Italy. At the time he was a Flight Lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Air Force (flying with a Royal Air Force squadron); he had joined the RCAF sometime before December 1941.
Though he was born in Iowa, he grew up near Colgate University, New York, and was appointed to the Naval Academy from that state. Prior to his RCAF time he had been working as a radio repairman in Baltimore.
He was survived by his father and grandmother.
To Honor! ⚓
https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/DAVID_D._LAIRD,_FLT_LT,_RCAF