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Miracle at Middle Wallop

by Harold Z. Baird

75 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0830; ISBN 1-4120-0462-4; US$13.00, C$14.75, EUR10.50, £7.50

A memoir centering on a B26 Bomber crash in dense fog at Middle Wallop during WWII and it's miraculous outcome.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book A memoir centering on a B26 Bomber crash in dense fog at Middle Wallop during WWII and it's miraculous outcome.

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About the Author Harold Zebulon Baird was born December 21, 1917 on a farm two and one half miles from Glen Campbell, Pennsylvania. Primary schooling was in a one-room school one mile away. One teacher taught all eight grades. Lower grades learned somewhat from upper grades while their class was in session. Zeb, as he was known as a youngster, was the fifth child in a family of seven, all born at home. This was long before electricity was available on farms in that area. A wood-coal stove heated the living room. The kitchen stove for cooking also fired by wood or coal provided heat for the kitchen. Oil wick lamps were used for light at night. The name Zebulon was his grandfather Baird's name. That name appears in nearly every generation of the family dating back to 1682 when the first ancestor came from Aberdeen, Scotland at age seventeen. That young man worked as an indentured servant in New Jersey for four years to pay for his passage to America. He must have been a hardy soul for he lived to age eighty-nine. The author walked two and one half miles each way to high school in Glen Campbell, Pa. The trip to high school was through a wooded area with no farms or buildings. After doing chored following school, such as feeding and watering livestock, there wasn't much energy left to walk back to participate in high school sports. He wasn't interested in football and there was no basketball during his first two years of high school because the gymnasium was being renovated. He did try out for basketball but failed to make the starting team largely because of his small size. He weighed only about 100 pounds. After graduating from high school in a class of 22 he attended Indiana State Teachers College (now Indiana University of Pennsylvania) during the school year of 1935-1936. He did not continue because of lack of finances and wasn't too keen on becoming a schoolteacher. He decided to continue working on the farm with a team of horses, which he soon supplemented with a homemade tractor. Since he was mechanically inclined he searched his brother Paul's small junkyard for a car engine and frame. The frame was shortened and a truck transmission and rear axle were added. This worked well on some jobs but had limitations. A year or so later a used Farmall tractor and plows were purchased so idle farms in the area could be worked. During the winter Zeb worked in the private coal mine under the farm. Much of that time he worked in the mine alone digging coal to be sold for heating homes. On St. Patrick's Day 1938 very early in the morning while waiting for a heavy rainstorm to subside so he could go to work he was sitting on a couch near the kitchen stove. The first lightening of the year struck the chimney knocking the stovepipe off, sending soot everywhere. The ball of lightening and instantaneous clap of thunder propelled him to his feet running - rather hopping. His right leg was paralyzed from the knee down. Talk about being SCARED! Soon the whole family was up to survey the damage. Fortunately no fire resulted. It would take about three hours for the leg to return to normal with no permanent damage. It was during a strike in the area coal mines that he received a first hand lesson about unions. He came home from a hard day in the mine to see a group of 30-40 men in the barnyard. The mystery of what this was all about was soon evident when they began to shout, "WE DON"T WORK; YOU DON"T WORK." Strikers brandished clubs, ball bats, etc. It soon became evident that this mob could not be reasoned with even though the coal being sold in no way had any bearing on their strike. A solution was arrived at with a promise not to sell any coal until their strike was settled. No coal was sold, but coal was mined and stockpiled for future sale. A second adverse encounter with a union occured in 1939 when he and two others went looking for work at Indianatown Gap, PA. Army barracks were being constructed there. They were instructed by the contractor to go to the union hall to sign up. The union goon in charge wanted $50 to apply with no guarantee of a job. Even a promise of payment from the first paycheck would not suffice. $50 each from three farm boys was a lot of money in those days so the union thug was told in no uncertain terms what could be done with his union. During the winter of 1940 a job was secured with an office equipment manufacturer at 45 cents per hour in Youngstown, Ohio. Several months later Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company put the author to work at 90 cents per hour. After three months with this company, Uncle Sam sent a message to report for induction into the military.

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Catalogue Information

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