Love of flight propels Windham veteran’s service

By Ed Pierce

Carroll McDonald never thought that something he saw while playing outside on his family’s farm in South Windham at the age of 4 in 1929 would change his life forever, but it remains a pivotal moment in his life and set in motion a career of service to America that we celebrate on Veterans Day.

Windham resident Carroll McDonald shows a photo of himself
in the military as a pilot during World War II. McDonald,
97, learned to fly as a teenager and joined the Army Air Force
specifically to train as a military pilot after graduation from
Windham High School in 1942. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE 

McDonald heard the shouts nearby of school children and then looking up into the sky, he noticed what all the commotion was about, it was an old biplane, the first aircraft he had ever seen in flight, and it captured his imagination like nothing else.

“It was doing spins and barrel rolls overhead,” McDonald said. “At first, I was scared, but the longer I watched that old biplane, the more impressed I became, and I knew from that moment that I wanted to become a pilot someday. The sound of it going up and down and buzzing all around stirred my interest and it never left me when I was growing up.”

McDonald and his younger brother Kenneth were so fascinated by aviation that once when Carroll was 12 and Kenneth was 9, they rode their bicycles from Grant’s Corner in South Windham more than 12 miles to Portland and the airport there. Unbeknownst to their parents, the brothers paid for and boarded a flight, landed, and took off again for a return flight back to Portland, before riding their bicycles back to the family’s dairy farm.

“Our parents had no idea what we had done, and they were shocked when we told them,” McDonald said. “Both of us really loved airplanes and wanted to fly.”

Upon graduation from Windham High School in 1942, McDonald suspected that he was about to be drafted so he instead signed up for the Army Air Force, provided he could train to become a military pilot.

In 1943 he was given a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant and sent to Army flight school in Alabama and then on for training as a P-51 pilot at Page Field in Fort Myers, Florida. McDonald earned his flight wings in 1944 and spent the remainder of the war in Fort Myers flying P-51s, a long range, single-seat fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War.

“I joined because it was an opportunity to be well-trained and a chance to fly every single day,” McDonald said. “Flying P-51s was the best experience I could have ever hoped for. It was a top-of-the-line aircraft and was really very fast. Here I was just a teenager, and I was flying one of the fastest aircraft in the world and serving my country during wartime. It was simply an amazing time.”

McDonald learned to fly the P-51 from experienced Army Air Force pilots and veterans who had flown missions overseas and knew what they were doing in preparing young aviators like McDonald to engage the enemy. But before he could be sent overseas, the war ended.

Following his active-duty discharge in 1945, McDonald returned to Windham and attended business school using the GI Bill. He joined the U.S. Post Office as a rural postal delivery driver, a job he worked at for 32 years, delivering mail in South Windham and on River Road until retiring.

He continued to pilot aircraft while serving as a mailman, finishing his mail route by 2 p.m. in the summers and then driving to Naples where he would fly sightseeing trips for tourists around Sebago Lake.

His younger brother Kenneth, who has passed away, also became a military pilot, flying B-25 bombers during the Korean War.

In 1951 while fulfilling his military commitment in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, he was promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. About the same time, McDonald joined American Legion’s Field-Allen Post 148 in 1951 and eventually serving as Post Commander and performed many other duties for the group through the years.

After his retirement from the U.S. Post Office, he then volunteered for more than 20 years delivering Meals on Wheels to area seniors.

About eight years ago he had the opportunity to fly in a P-51 during an vintage airshow in the Auburn area.

“I couldn’t believe it after all these years,” he said. “I was thrilled to have that opportunity once more.”

Now 97, McDonald is the last remaining World War II veteran in Windham and says he wouldn’t change a thing about his military service or his love for his fellow military veterans.

“I still think it was the right thing to do,” he said. “I am very positive about my time in the military. I enjoyed the structure, the discipline and was very pleased with the training I received. I’m lucky to have served and proud of what we accomplished.” <

Windham racer Kneeland revs up NASCAR career

Windham auto racer Derek Kneeland owns his own Super
Late Model car and has been competing in racing since he 
first climbed into a go-kart at age 8. He now works for 
NASCAR racing teams as a spotter for drivers such as
Tyler Reddick, Austin Hill, Corey Heim, Daniel Dye,
and Kyle Busch. COURTESY PHOTO

By Ed Pierce

Derek Kneeland’s passion for auto racing runs deep and it not only has become his career; it’s led him to places he’s never been before and experiences he wouldn’t have had otherwise like the Daytona 500.

Kneeland, 36, grew up in Windham in a racing family and the need to compete on the racetrack is in his blood.

“My dad Jeff raced back in the 1970s and my grandfather used to be the general manager of Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough back when it was clay,” Kneeland said. “My family worked the ticket booths and concessions, so I was pretty destined to get involved somehow and we started racing go-karts when I was 8 years old.”

He currently owns his own Super Late Model racecar and tries to race as much as he can when he has free time from his work with teams in NASCAR races. That career began as a spotter during a race in Pennsylvania 14 years ago and has evolved to jobs in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series.

“Each year is a little different on how much I can race due to my NASCAR schedule and obligations,” Kneeland said. “This year I will race three or four times. I travel around to race kind of wherever I can when I’m able. I race with Pro All-Stars series and the Oxford, Granite State Pro Stock Series. I’ve won a few heat races but my best finish in a feature/main event is fifth last year at Oxford.” 

 

He currently works for Richard Childress Racing spotting for the #8 car of Tyler Reddick. Kneeland also spots for RCR's Xfinity team with Austin Hill in the #21 car, and in the truck series he spots for Kyle Busch’s Motorsports #51 truck shared by Busch, Corey Heim, and Buddy Kofoid. In the Arca series, he spots for the #43 car of Daniel Dye. 

As a NASCAR spotter, Kneeland relays information to the driver of the team he works for, keeping them alert of what is occurring on the track. To get a complete look at the racetrack, he is usually positioned on top of one of the grandstands or support buildings.

“For me I think the hardest part is I don’t get to race weekly like most do because of traveling around the country working my NASCAR duties, so there are a few things I need to clean up to figure out such as how to go faster and be better as a driver as a whole. And money obviously, it takes a lot of money to race these cars and be competitive.”

According to Kneeland, the toughest track he’s raced on was a track he competed at during the “Money in the Bank” event at the Berlin Raceway in Michigan on June 8.

“Both ends were different,” he said. “One end was long and sweeping and one was tighter, and I had to slow down more. It was challenging to find the balance needed to be fast.”

His biggest fans are his family, including his wife, Carley, two stepsons Kolby and Logan, his parents Jeff and Kelly Kneeland, and his sister, Tasha.

“Everyone is super supportive. My dad and my cousin Rusty Poland and my good buddy, Nick Brown, all work together on my car and Rusty’s,” Kneeland said. “It’s definitely a family sport. My parents and my wife every weekend tune into the NASCAR app to listen to me spot for my drivers as well. They love it all whether it’s getting to watch me behind the wheel or listen to me do my job on a weekly basis.” 

He says that sponsors are tough to come for his own racecar, but each year it seems like he’s been lucky enough to have a few that stick by him for the select races he competes in. His sponsors include Sumerian Irrigation, Bonang Concrete, SOS towing, One Stop Earthworks, Logan Oil, Drew Excavation, and Pierson Heating and Cooling, along with some family and friends that step up throughout the year. 

So far Kneeland has raced his own car at tracks in Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan and North Carolina, and he plans to race in Florida at the end of this year. He says the biggest race he’s been in behind the wheel himself is the Oxford 250, where he raced against NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski.

“My next race is Friday July 15 at Lee Speedway in Lee, New Hampshire,” Kneeland said. “It’s also the same weekend that NACSAR is racing at Loudon, New Hampshire, so I’ll be coming over to Lee after we have practice at Loudon that afternoon.”

As far as the future goes, Kneeland said he’d really like to get a Feature win on the racetrack before he’s done whether it’s a weekly race or a touring race.

“I don’t really have a timeline on when I’m going to get done,” Kneeland said. I’m just enjoying it for now and I try to help my cousin Rusty Poland as much as possible, so I think when I’m done racing myself, I’ll probably have Rusty race for me some.” <

Fate intervenes in kidney donation for best friends in Windham

Windham Walmart employees Jean Bennett, left,
and Michelle Davis await a flight at the Portland
Jetport on Monday. Davis, who is Bennett's
best friend, received a donated kidney from
Bennett during transplant surgery in 
Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday.
COURTESY PHOTO 

By Ed Pierce

It’s often the moment of decision in which our fates are determined and for two Windham Walmart employees, being placed together in the same department six years ago may have saved the life of one of them.

Jean Bennett, a team leader at Walmart, first struck up a friendship instantly with Michelle Davis when they were both assigned to work together at the Windham store in 2016. They became best friends and Bennett, a divorced mother of two, anguished as Davis, a married mother of four children, experienced kidney failure and then was told she needed a kidney transplant to survive.

“Michelle’s been suffering from kidney disease for the past four and a half years,” Bennett said. “It was really hard to watch my best friend go through that and suffer so much.”

The process of waiting for a kidney donation hasn’t been easy for Davis and her family.

“It’s been emotionally and financially draining and very difficult not knowing if I would find a match or not,” Davis said. “But then a miracle happened.”

And that miracle came from a very unexpected and fateful source.

Last year Bennett herself got tested and as unbelievable as it sounds, turned out to be a potential match for Davis. Bennett then underwent immune system testing and blood work last October and that was followed up by a battery of intense and rigorous kidney donation testing in February of this year. 

The Mayo Clinic reports that currently there are about 90,000 Americans in kidney failure on the waiting list for a possible match for a donor kidney and the average length of time that a recipient may spend on the waiting list is about three to five years. Many would-be kidney recipients die before ever finding a match nationally, making this particular donation even more improbable.

Eventually, Bennett’s donation to Davis was approved and both friends flew to Florida on Monday for the kidney transplant surgery, which was performed Thursday at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

“She’s my best friend and she truly helped me through a tough time a few years ago,” Bennett said. “I couldn’t just sit by and let her die, I knew I needed to step up and do something. I told her I would do anything for my best friend and if I can prolong your life, I’m willing to do it.”

Davis said that she’s grateful for meeting someone as wonderful as Bennett.

“I think it was a higher power that put us together working in the same department at Walmart,” Davis said. “I believe in fate and there’s a reason we met. Having her to do this for me is a godsend.”

During the complicated four-hour surgical operation, Bennett’s left kidney was removed and then transplanted into Davis, who was in surgery for about seven hours.

Bennett says that her teen daughters are highly supportive of her donating her kidney to Davis and proud of what she’s done.

“They understand, and they get it,” she said. “I’ll be in Florida for around 10 days and then I get to come home. I’ve been told not to do any heavy lifting for around six to eight weeks. But I should be back to full speed about mid-July.”

Doctors say that during the coming months Bennett’s remaining kidney will enlarge, doing the work of two healthy kidneys.

Davis was accompanied to Florida by her daughter, Samantha, who will stay with her during her recovery period which is estimated to be between four to eight weeks in Jacksonville. She will no longer require dialysis and should resume a normal life because of the transplant.

Both Bennett and Davis say they have been transformed by this entire experience.

“We got pushed together at work and found we had a lot in common,” Davis said. “Now we will have even more in common.”

Bennett said she would encourage everyone to become organ donors and through everything related to the donation and transplant, she’s discovered something new about herself.

“I am a much stronger person than I thought I was,” Bennett said. “Because of this I am committed to becoming an organ donor. I never expected to save anyone’s life, but it’s certainly changed mine for the better.” <