The Luckiest Cat in the World.

An Oral History of Joe Byrd, U.S.N., 1942-1945.

Transcribed by Wilda J. Byrd and John P. Dunn.

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, 2 March 2002 / Kent, Ohio, 28 December 2007.

Q. Where and when were you born?

Gainesville, Georgia, 22 September 1922.

Q. Why did you end up in Ohio, and what were you doing there right before the war?

There were better job opportunities in Akron, especially with Goodyear, or some branch of the rubber industry. My family moved there. I nearly completed high school, but had a run-in with my 12^th grade Chemistry teacher, and went out into the work force. Picked up a good job with Ohio Bell in 1940. Lots of things were happening in the Akron area, one of my most vivid memories was seeing Admiral Byrd's (no relation) Snow Cruiser.[1] My brother and I both took our bikes to get on a hill overlooking the road by which it would pass. Man it was big! An amazing piece of technology, but I recall it did not do so well when it finally arrived in Antarctica.

Q. When did you join the Navy?