Born
August 20, 1921 in New Haven, CT. Daniel graduated from Weaver
High School at Hartford, CT. He enlisted July 27, 1942 in the
Army Air Corps for pilot training during his senior year in college.
That program was cancelled so he chose navigational/radar training.
He graduated as an Aviation Cadet May 19, 1944 from 2530 AAF Base
Unit Navigational School at Selman Field, Monroe, LA and was commissioned
as 2nd Lieutenant.
Beginning
May 20, 1944 he attended AFTS in Boca Raton, FL in radar completing
in September 1944. In November, he completed Radar Observer School
at AFTS, Langley Field, VA.
When
B-29 crews were made up at SHAAF, Salina, KS he was assigned as
radar operator with P-15. After their twelfth bombing mission
the crew flew a "war-weary" plane to Muroc and received additional
radar training for two months.
Crew
P-15 had returned to North Field Guam. They were returning from
their thirteenth combat mission when they received the radio announcement
that Japan had surrendered. This was August 13, 1945.
Crew
P-15 had been very luck. Its members made up a great crew. After
some "of the bugs" were repaired or replaced, their B-29 performed
as they had hoped this special plane would.
Daniel
was given an honorable discharge as First Lieutenant.
After
military service, Daniel returned to complete his interrupted
senior year at New York University School of Commerce, Accounts
and Finance and received a Bachelor of Laws Degree in June 1959
and was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in August 1959.
He
practiced law in Fairfield County, Connecticut area until retirement
on March 31, 1997. For the period of 1981 through 1991 he was
a Chapter 13 Trustee in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court at Bridgeport,
Connecticut.
From
1948 to 1973 he was married to Sally Gruss. Two sons Robert William
Meister and James Eliot Meister, PhD; a grandson Jeffery Alan
Meister and granddaughter, Laura Elizabeth Meister, survive him.
In
1975 he married Jeanette J. Skidd of Westport, CT. During the
last few years they divided their time between Connecticut and
Florida. Daniel died May 22, 1999 shortly after returning to their
home in Stratford, Connecticut for the summer.
Memberships
and affiliations were many and varied including American and Connecticut
Bar Associations, National Association of Chapter 13 Trustees, Connecticut
Society of Certified Public Accountants. |