World War II Chronicle: October 31, 1942
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An AP report on page two states 2nd Lt. Robert J. Byrne Jr has shot down a German Messerschmidt Me-109 on his first-ever sortie. Byrne will shoot down five more Axis warplanes in 1943 making him an ace. He earns the Silver Star, a Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Purple Heart. Before joining the 64th Fighter Squadron in Egypt he played baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor-league farm system. Robert Jr.’s younger brother Bennie was also a minor leaguer before climbing into a fighter, bagging an enemy plane or two1Official Air Force records list Robert Jr. with five kills and Bennie with one while serving in the Mediterranean and China-Burma-India Theaters.
Their father Bobby was a big-league ballplayer for 11 years and led the National League in hits and doubles in 1910. But the only Germans he ever took out were from double plays.
George Fielding Eliot column on page 11… Sports section begins on page 23
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 31 October 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-10-31/ed-1/