Byron Brigham was drafted when he was 19 years old. He was a crew chief for a B24 Bomber airplane during World War II.
Brigham, now 95, is a life-long Seward County resident. Now retired, he spent most of his working years farming.
Byron Brigham is one of the last living World War II veterans in the area.
Brigham, now 95 years old, grew up in Tamora, and was drafted in 1943 into the U.S. Army Air Corps when he was 19.
“I had planned to enlist,” he said.
Brigham lives with Geraldine, his wife of 70 years, at Brookdale Heartland Park in Seward.
When asked about his time during the war, he said it was an honor to serve.
“I was glad to do it. It means quite a bit to me. I just wouldn’t want to do it again,” he said.
He received notification of being drafted around Christmas of 1942. He reported to six weeks of basic training in Florida in January of 1943.
He served a total of three years which included World War II. His rank was sergeant, and he remembers the day his unit arrived in Europe.
“We were bombing the heck out of them, and they were bombing the heck out of us,” he said.
He remembers hiding behind a large pile of dirt when the bombing was happening.
“There weren’t lights on at night. It was really dark,” he said.
Brigham’s unit was stationed at a base in England.
Brigham wanted to be a pilot but a broken arm kept him from that position.
Instead, he was a crew chief for a B24 airplane named Double Trouble. He remembered being able to watch one of the planes being made. He attended training in Wendover, Utah, before going to England by ship to fight in the war.
Geraldine said she remembers Byron talking about how they heard Axis Sally (a nickname for Mildred E. Gillars) welcome his unit to Germany on the radio.
As crew chief, it was his responsibility to keep track of 10 crew members and the plane. Not only was the experience Brigham’s first time in war, it was also his first time on an airplane.
“It was quite a job to look after it,” he said. “It was quite an experience.”
He said the crew members were from all over including a couple from Nebraska.
“We were all pretty good buddies,” he said.
Brigham remembers a bad experience.
“In England, it’s foggy a lot. We were out in the forest and had cleared a runway in the forest. The bombs were loaded, and we were heading to Germany,” he said. “You didn’t have instruments like you have now.”
He said three planes were getting ready to take off. The first plane went too long and crashed into the trees. It created a domino effect for the next two planes. Brigham said all 30 crew members (10 per plane) died in those crashes.
Brigham said there were often a thousand airplanes in the air at one time. He remembers the loud roar of the engines.
He also remembered one of his crew members from North Platte getting shot and killed.
“We were coming in to land. For some reason, he had taken off his armor,” he said.
He also remembers the letters he received from family.
“Everything was censored. You couldn’t say anything that was happening,” he said.
During his military service, Brigham earned five battle stars. He is a charter member of the Seward VFW and a lifetime member of the Utica American Legion.
When he returned from the war in 1945, he met Geraldine at Star Hamburger where she was working at the time. The two married in August of 1945. They have two children, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Brigham had two brothers and a sister. His sister was a nurse who also served on the frontline during World War II.
Brigham said having two children in the war was hard for their parents.
“It was harder on them than it was for us, I think,” he said.
For most of his working years, Brigham farmed but he also served as an auctioneer and did other jobs throughout the years including postmaster in Tamora. The G.I. Bill provided him the education to become an auctioneer.
Brigham has visited the World War II Memorial twice in Washington, D.C. He also attended reunions and enjoyed catching up with fellow members. His connection to the B24 airplane is as strong today as it was back then. His tomb stone includes a photo of a B24.
He also has an award from the U.S. Air Force that recognizes him and his crew for completing 50 missions without an abortion.
