S/Sgt Howard James Byrom Birth: 22 March 1916, Blackburn, Pawnee County, Oklahoma Death: 13 June 1944, Normandy, France Buried: Blackburn Cemetery, Blackburn, Oklahoma Enlisted: 19 March 1942, Fort Sill, Lawton, Oklahoma Unit: 357th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division Decorations: Purple Heart, Europe Middle East Africa Campaign Medal Howard J Byrom was born on 22nd March 1916 in Blackburn, Pawnee County to Granville and Clara Byrom and was one of their eleven children. Granville was born in Ottawa County, Kansas to parents who moved there from Kentucky, while Clara was born in Missouri. They married in Pawnee County on 20th June 1910 while Granville was renting a farm in Blackburn, Pawnee County, Oklahoma. Howard grew up on their rented farms in Blackburn and Valley, Pawnee County before entering the service in 1942. This was a difficult time for the family as his mother Clara had died in 1935 while his father also passed away in September 1942 shortly after Howard had enlisted. This left his younger brother Ernest running the farm. Howard enlisted at Fort Sill on 19th March 1942 and following the completion of his basic training was assigned to the 357th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division. The 357th Infantry was traditionally an Oklahoma/Texas regiment from World War I and was activated near Abilene at Camp Barkeley, Texas in March 1942 and a long period of training began. In December 1942 and January 1943 the 357th underwent combat training in the hills around Camp Berkeley before moving to Leesville, Louisiana to take part in 3rd Army maneuvers there. For two months the 357th honed their skills against members of the 77th Infantry Division before returning to Camp Berkeley. Later, in September 1943 the 357th was on the move again, this time to undergo desert training at Camp Granite, California which lasted until mid November when they were notified to move to Fort Dix, New Jersey to prepare for deployment overseas. Shortly afterwards on the 14th January 1944 Special Orders Number 10 saw Howard J Byrom promoted to Staff Sergeant. On 22nd March 1944 the 357th as part of the 90th Division boarded ships to set sail the following day to Liverpool, England where they arrived on 4th April. From there they transferred to Kinlet Park near Kidderminster, England for final intensive training and then moved to Cardiff, Wales to board ships headed for France. On 4th June 1944, the 357th boarded the SS Explorer and SS Bienville at Cardiff and on 6th June 1944 set sail for Utah Beach, Normandy, France. On 9th June 1944, the 357th received orders to engage the enemy by moving through the 82nd Airborne positions near Amfreville and seize the Douve River crossings located to the west of Columbe and it was here that they received their first combat casualties. The fighting was fierce and spread from hedgerow to hedgerow as the 357th sought to expand the beachhead and move inland. By the 13th June 1944 following four days of combat the 357th had suffered over 703 casualties, 133 of which were fatal. One of those fatal casualties was Staff Sergeant Howard J Byrom.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 02:56:38 +0000
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