During D-Day event, Bethel Park WWII vet recalls service in Normandy
Hartley Baird Jr.’s father didn’t want him to serve in World War II.
“I’ve done enough service to this nation,” Mr. Baird said when his son received a draft notice in the spring of 1943, hoping he would ask for a deferment.
His father served with the 5th Infantry “Red Diamond” Division in World War I. In November 1918, he was wounded by an explosive shell.
He lost his left leg below the knee.
But the younger Baird went to war, anyway.
“You might come back a cripple,” his dad argued. “You might not come back at all.”
A year and a few months later, nearly 2,500 American soldiers died and thousands more were injured during the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Seventy-three years later, at a D-Day remembrance celebration in South Fayette Tuesday, Baird, 92, was the only Normandy veteran in the crowd.
Baird, a Bethel Park resident, served from 1943 to 1946. He trained as an infantryman before being moved to a replacement depot and to the Army Air Forces.
“That was one of the luckiest days of my life,” Baird said. “It saved my life.”
As a private first class of the 30th Air Depot in the 9th Air Force, Baird repaired ground machinery. On D-Day, Baird was 100 miles across the English Channel in England. He didn’t arrive in Normandy until 80 days after D-Day.
Along with several other World War II veterans, about 40 people attended the celebration and lunch at Country Meadows at the annual event in its 15th year.
Joseph Roman, marketing director at Country Meadows, said the senior living community also hosts a Pearl Harbor remembrance day.
“We do these events to honor the vets, specifically the World War II vets and the residents here and in the community,” Roman said. “It’s a great generation of people and we want to honor them, because, unfortunately, they won’t be around much longer.”
Lt. Col. Ben Wright, who served in the Air Force for more than 20 years and retired in 1992, was the main speaker.
“I want to thank the World War II vets,” Wright said in his speech. “I’m indebted to you for what you’ve done for this country.”
William Mansfield of Penn Hills attended the event to recognize his fellow veterans. Mansfield, who is too young to recall D-Day, served in the Army from 1958 to 1960.
“We have a lot to give to them for what they did for us,” Mansfield said.
For Baird, he went for the memories.
“That’s all that’s left,” he said. “The memories.”