Joel Martin Bard, Jr. was born in Allen, Nebraska, to Joel Martin Bard and Alice Simpson Crabbe, 12th March 1921. The family moved to Sioux City soon after. Their second son, Dean Crabbe Bard, was born in Sioux City, Iowa, 2nd September 1923. Mr. Bard, Sr. was a carpenter and worked for several construction firms in Sioux City. Joel attended Longfellow Elementary, East Junior and East High School, graduating in mid-year 1939. He was on the first East High Golf Team.
Joel worked with his father in construction and joined Local #948 Carpenter Union. He traveled to different locations working on defense work. Joel enlisted into the Army Air Corp and entered active service 4 June 1942. Was trained as an airplane mechanic at Sheppard Field, Wichita Falls, Texas, and Air Force Technical School in San Diego, California, working on B-24 bombers, and was flown to Saipan Island. Served with the 883rd Bomb Squadron in the Asiatic- Pacific Theater of Operations. He was there one year until the war with Japan had ended.
Joel returned to the states in December of 1945. Upon his return to Sioux City, he was employed by the H.S. Holtze Construction Company. Joel remained in the inactive reserves. On 3 August 1950, Joel received a telegram, “By the order of the president, he was ordered to active military service for the period of one year, unless sooner relieved there from.
Effective 12 August 1950, he was to proceed from his home to Warren AFB, Wyoming. “Where he was assigned to the 43rd Air Refueling Sq. After a month of maneuvers in Newfoundland, he was stationed at Davis Monthan, AFB, Tucson, Arizona. Joel was honorably discharged, 15 November 1950.
He returned to Sioux City, and Holtze Construction, working for the next 32 years, retiring in September 1979, as a building superintendent.
Joel married Mina Louise Williamson, 27th October 1946, in Texarkana, Arkansas. They met while he was working on a defense project in Texarkana, Texas. They built a basement in 1946, and lived in it for four years before finishing the top two floors of their home in 1951, and lived in it for 55 years. Their children are Joel M. III, Lea Ann Bradford, and Karen Sue Winchester. They have five grandchildren.
Joel’s brother, Dean, also served in the U.S. Army. They went to school with William Jenks, who did not survive the war. In fact, when the WWII and Vet’s Project started, Joel made sure that Bill’s name was included.
Joel and Mina play a lot of golf. They sometimes travel in the winter, making sure they know where to find the golf courses.
Submitted by Joel and Mina Bard.
