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MaryAlice
4/19/2010 2:23:39 PM | GUYS YOU ARE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS!!!!! I JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH A WILLIAM F BYROM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those that may not know, SStephonson posted up a picture from his collection, and there is pic of a young man, hanging out the window of the Mary Alice, and above it, it has "Byrom" written across it. Well, with some good detective work by Paul, was able to narrow it down to a one possible match.
So, i took it a step further, did some research, and was able to get Mr. William F. Byrom onthe phone!
My main intentions is calling him, was to let him know there is a picture of him (or possibly him) and was curious to see if maybe he wanted to see it.
Well, when i call, his wife answers, tell her who i am (my grandpa was stationed at Deenethorpe, flew on Mary Alice, etc...) and she goes, "well, do you want to talk to him? he is right here, and he would LOVE to talk to someone about teh War! I was like YES MAAM!!!!!
He gets on, and he was hard of hearing just like I am, but he ws SO funny and exctied to talk to me.
HE HAS A HUGE BOOK OF INFO FROM THE WAR AND IS GONNA CHECK TO SEE IF HE HAS ANY PICS OF HIM AND MY GRANDPA!!!!
I GAVE HIM MY PHONE NUMBER, AND HE IS GONNA CALL ME BACK IN THE NEXT COUPLE/FEW DAYS ONCE HE HAS TIME TO GO THROUGH IT. HE WAS SO EXCITED THAT I CALLED!!!! I COULDN'T GET HIM OFF THE PHONE!!! hahahahaHahahahaha!!!
Steve, is there ANY way you can either mail a copy of that picture of Byrom hanging out the Mary Alice to him?
or mail to me, and i can mail it to him? he was tickled pink to know that we had a picture of him (or pretty sure it is him) and he would love to see. He asked me if he was wearing a BALL CAP in the picture, and I said, well, you ARE wearing a hat, and looks like it might be a ballcap, and he said, well, if it is then it's me!! HAHAHA!! He said, I always use to goof @ and wanted to get pics of everything, so I have lots of pics from back then along with my book I use to write down names and such.
OH WOW GUYS THIS IS JUST GREAT!!!!!!
Steve, let me know what you can do on that picture, OK??
Thanks
Oh, if you can mail it to him, let me know, and I can get you his address.
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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win-win
4/19/2010 6:56:39 PM | All: Congrats. I LOVE when this happend.
Derrick, it looks like you've got everything covered, but if other means don't pan-out,
I'd be glad to print-and-sent the photo to Mr. Byron.
All I need is a '.jpg' scan of the photo (by E-mail) and his address.
Win
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donaldbyers
4/19/2010 7:03:20 PM | So did he happen to say what he did at Deenthorpe? I was trying to look through the loading lists but was not finding anything at this time. So I was thinking he might have been maintenance.
Let's take it a little farther as an historian, does he have photos which the website could use or some kind of logs he kept. It's great that you found him.
Don
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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MaryAlice
4/20/2010 7:36:15 AM | I did not ask him what specifically he did at Deenethorpe, no. Basically told him and his wife before him, who I was and was trying to make sure they knew i wasn't some salesperson trying to get them to buy anything like that. Basically was trying to get them to feel comfortable with me before I started to ask "personal" questions.
So, to make them feel at ease, I told them about the picture that I would send him, kind of like a "hey, we want to do for YOU" type of thing.
So, once I told him that, that I could try and get this picture to him, is when he offered to go into his scrap book (which, his words "is rather large") and would give me a call in a couple/few days.
So, when he calls back, will ask him what he did and things like that. I am going to ASSUME that since we can't find his name on teh crew lists, and that he "always wore a ball cap" (again, his words) that he probaly was part of the maintenance of it.
Win-win, i can give you his address if you want to send him the picture, but here is a small problem, and let me know what you guys think.
I can NOT send PM's from my home computer (where I am now) and will not be at work until Thursday or friday...so, do you think it is ok to post his address publicly?
I can always post it when I KNOW Win Win will be on, then win win can get it, then I can delete it???
Or other suggesstions?
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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MaryAlice
4/20/2010 7:43:01 AM | "donaldbyers":
Let's take it a little farther as an historian, does he have photos which the website could use or some kind of logs he kept. It's great that you found him.
Don
Don, he DID say he had photo's. Now, not sure he is wanting to send them, part with them, etc...Obviously just one phone call up to this point. But I CAN tell you this:
He was very excited to talk about the War, and I am sure that he would be willing to share info/pics. I myself am willing to drive up and meet up with him, if it gets to that point (from his area code, he is @ 3-4 hour drive from my home).
I would like to be able to get that picture of him (again, the one we think is him) TO him, so he knows that I am here to help HIM as much as I would like him to help us. So, was hoping to try and get this pic to him in a rather timely manner, and with any luck, we can do it.
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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MaryAlice
4/20/2010 7:46:57 AM | AS a side note:
Never mind...
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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MaryAlice
4/20/2010 8:38:10 AM | OK guys, i sent Steve an email with Mr. Byrom'a address, and he is gona send him the photocopy.
Also, I just typed up a nice letter (with SPELL CHECK TO FIX MY HORRBLE TYPING, LOL!!)to Mr. Byrom and gonna send it to him as well. basically told himthank you for all he did, that the picture he is going to recieve is of poor quality but we are working on getting him a better one..also told him about Mary Alice being in teh IWM, about the reunion for teh 401st, about the website (don't know if he has internet or not, but told him anyways) told himtha tI would be willing to drive to his house and make copies of any pics that he has, or just sit down and listen to some stories if he wanted me to.
Also, in the letter, I DID ask him some questions such as what did he do, does he remember any "friends" or planes to that effect.
Of course told him that he could call, email, write my anytime, as well as IF i was bothering him, to justl et me know, as I WILL repsect his privacy, etc, etc, etc...
So guys, let's see what happens...
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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MaryAlice
12/9/2010 8:45:56 AM | Ok Don, I found my thread....now I have to go through my old notes and see if I can dig up his phone number. I know there is another thread out there that has ALOT of info, so still trying to find that one as well....
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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donaldbyers
12/9/2010 1:10:42 PM | If you click on "Search" on the menu it will take you to a place you can search for it. Click on the Tab "New Forum" and then put in your search screen it may get your where you need to go.
Don
Sgt. Donald C. Byers, 613th Bomb Squadron, Togglier, 42-97344 Carrie B II, KIA 08/24/1944.
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MaryAlice
12/11/2010 12:06:46 PM | OK, well that should help much better....I have been guessing which threads I had responded to/been part of, then read each one of those threads until i realize it WASNT the thread I needed...yeah, that was taking some time, LOL!!!
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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MaryAlice
2/5/2011 11:57:37 AM | OK, update on Mr. Byrom..was able to locate his phone number, and I gave him a call. No answer, or voice mail/recording. I called @ Wed this past week. Was gonna give it until Monday, and try again.
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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MaryAlice
2/17/2011 4:15:06 PM | I called again, and no answer, again. Hopefully everything is OK with him/his wife/family.
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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MaryAlice
2/17/2011 4:34:41 PM | Well, as crazy as this seems, no sooner than I posted my last comment, I get a phone call, and it's from Mr. Byrum's wife. from what she told me is they have caller ID, and she recognixed my number, so she called me back.
ANYWAYS, we talked for a few minutes, and she informed that Mr. Byrom is not doing very well. Arthritis has set in pretty severe, and is hard for him to get around (no need in going into any more detail about that).
She told me that they did get all of teh info that we sent him (assuming @ April of last year), and he was very excited when he got it, and he read it. She also said he DID hop on the website (I had included the website address in my letter to him) but he couldn't find the thread with his picture posted in it. She told me that he was very appreciative of it all, and after that they went looking for all of his pictures, but they couldn't find anything.
She told me they had moved a number of years ago, and must have been either lost in teh move, or accidentally thrown away, as she to remembers seeing his box of "stuff from the War". So, unfortunately no pics.
I then told her that I hoped that Mr. Byrom would start to feel better, and that everybody over her on teh 401st would keep him and her in our thoughts and prayers. She told me that they have my number, and if he gets to feeling better, that he might call me.
So guys, I jsut wanted to update what I had, so knowing what we know, lets hope and pray that Mr. Byrom gets to feelin better.
Derrick Morris, Grandson of S/Sgt Engr/Top Turret William "Dale" Sartor, 615th BS 401st BG, "Mary Alice"
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