World War 2 Ace, Placer High grad Diz Laird dies at 101

Dean "Diz" Laird, one of two World War II Aces to come out of Placer High School, died Aug. 10. He was 101. "He was a great guy," Andrea Laird, Diz's daughter, told the Auburn Journal on Tuesday afternoon. "He had a wonderful sense of humor, and he was a person who tried to help other people who needed help. He was an adventure seeker. Even as an older man, he would choose fun and adventure over the risk factor of hurting himself." Andrea shared one such example when her dad parachuted out of a plane to celebrate his 90th birthday, as Diz was one to "go for the fun." According to the Hillmen Foundation, Laird graduated from Placer High in 1939 and holds the distinction as the only Navy Ace to have shot down German and Japanese planes during World War II. At the end of the war, when several Naval pilots returned to school on the GI Bill and received higher degrees, Andrea said Diz was content with his junior college diploma. "He was happy flying for the Navy; he didn't need a better job," she said. "He grew up milking cows on his dad's ranch, but the Navy was a vacation compared to getting up at 4:30 in the morning and milking cows. (The Navy) taught him how to fly. … He loved his life in the military and enjoyed people that shared that life." Diz was one of only 18 Navy Flying Aces, logged more than 8,200 flight hours in propeller and jet-powered aircraft and still holds the record for the most arrested landings on a straight-deck aircraft carrier, according to the U.S. Naval Air Forces Facebook post honoring the commander. "Cmdr. Dean 'Diz' Laird embodied a level of excellence that all aviators strive for, but few achieve. He represented the best of us," the U.S. Naval Air Forces said. In June, Diz was honored with a Dream Flight, along with fellow Placer High graduate and Triple Ace pilot Bud Anderson, at the Auburn Municipal Airport. The flight entailed 20 minutes of circling the sky above Auburn. Andrea said Diz and Anderson were the only Aces who were high school classmates. According to Andrea, Diz took his last flight in Coronado, where he qualified for his 100th aircraft at the age of 95. Andrea said Diz lived with her in Walnut Creek, as his residing in Coronado (at an independent living facility) would not have allowed her to see her dad every day during the pandemic. He was born Feb. 7, 1921, in Loomis, enlisted in the US Navy in 1942 following the attack on Pearl Harbor and was married to Auburn native Lorraine Lardner Laird for 71 and a half years. "I realized about 300 days into COVID and my dad being here, I realized I had never seen my father 300 days in a row in my entire life," Andrea said, noting Laird spent considerable time on aircraft carriers during his nearly 30-year Naval career. Andrea said Diz retired from the Navy in 1971, the year she went to college, and she saw him over the summers, sometimes working for him at a restaurant he bought into at the Coronado Golf Course. "I certainly saw my dad, but I never saw him ... every single day of a year," she said. With Diz living with her, Andrea said she and her dad grew closer. "Having that everyday experience, and he had an incredibly good sense of humor, nice dry sense of humor," she said. "I can honestly say that being here with him for that time was a gift." Andrea shared her father achieved his dream of flying after seeing footage of a biplane landing on a makeshift deck and decided "that looks like a lot of fun." "I think his legacy would be, you know, go after your dreams," she said. "That's what he wanted to do." Andrea said a service will be held in honor of Diz onboard the aircraft carrier museum USS Hornet, 707 W Hornet Avenue in Alameda, where he was a volunteer docent for about five years. The service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, and will be open to the public.