Early Life
He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, grew up and attended high school in Marshfield, Wisconsin, although he attended Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois his junior year. He was nicknamed "Bambino" (shortened to "Bom" and pronounced like the word 'bomb') by his mother.
Laird was the grandson of William D. Connor, the Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 1907 to 1909. His niece is Jessica Laird Doyle, wife of former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle.
He graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota in May 1944, having enlisted in the United States Navy a year earlier. Following his commissioning as an ensign, he served on a destroyer, the USS Maddox (DD-731), in the Pacific. A recipient of the Purple Heart and several other decorations, Laird left the Navy in April 1946.
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