Byron Dalley Mason |
USS Arizona |
My brother, Byron Dalley Mason, was a radioman striker on the Arizona. He had a reputation as a welterweig He was the 160# Champ of Eastern Idaho and on the battleship West Virginia. He was one of those outspoken "Mormons". He sang Bass in the Mason Quartett and was active in Music and Drama in high school. My family is committed to the memory of my brother. He was a very wonderful man and a good influence. Information provided by Sterling Mason |
"...What He Would Have Us Do" An unusual gesture has memorialized the name of Byron D. Mason, young Latter-day Saint from Ririe, Idaho, who was on board the USS Arizona when she was detroyed at Pearl Harbor. Following the Iaconic report "Missing in action," Byron's parents, Joseph H. and Eleanor Armstrong Mason, received his back pay as radioman and from it have made good his pledge contribution toward the recentl compled ward chapel in Ririe. "We know that is what he would have us do," they explain, for on his last furlough home, Elder Mason had said, concerning the new building then being planned, "Just as soon as my pay is advanced, I will send the money to you, Mother, to pay my assessment. I want my name on the record as having donated that much at least toward our building, perhaps later I can send more... Byron, one-time welterweight boxing champion of Idaho, enlisted in November, 1940, and following graduation from radio school in May 1941, served for a time on the USS West Virginia under Captain Mervyn Sharp Bennion, a Latter-Day Saint, also lost at Pearl Harbor. Brother and Sister Mason have four sons and three daughters remaining, one son a top sergeant in the signal corps another a member of the coast guard. |
