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S2c Byron Dalley Mason
Byron Dalley Mason was the one-time welterweight pro boxing champion of Idaho, and newspapers in the 1930s often reported on his fights.
He left all that behind in November 1940 when he enlisted in the Navy. He was a seaman second class on the U.S.S. Arizona when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
Mr. Mason was born June 3, 1912 in northeast of Idaho Falls in Ririe, population 396. His parents were Joseph Mason, then a farmer, and Eleanor Armstrong Mason, a homemaker. They were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The 1930s were difficult for him, as for most young men right out of high school. The 1940 Census identified him as a truck driver and said he worked 24 weeks the previous year for $425.
At least three brothers also served in World War II: Jack in the Army Air Corps, Monte in the Navy, and Sterling in the Coast Guard. They survived the war.
Sources: The Post-Register of Idaho Falls, Idaho; Census; application for military headstone. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.