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Pfc. Byron Babb

Pfc. Byron BabbPfc. Byron Babb from Wichita, Kansas, married his high school and college sweetheart on March 4, 1944. The couple went to New York at the end of October 1944 in preparation for his shipping overseas. While on leave, Byron and Louise visited a nightclub. Recalled Louise,

"We didn't care what it cost because he was leaving and I was going home. We had dinner and I requested all our favorite songs, such as "You Would Be So Nice To Come Home To" and all the rest. When we got ready to leave and asked for the check, we were told no charge, no tip. I couldn't believe it. New York was great. That was the night we decided to have a child."

Christmas Eve of 1944, the now pregnant Louise Babb became ill and sensed that something was terribly wrong. She was right. Byron was one of seventy-two men in his company who perished in the Leopoldville disaster. The body of Byron Babb was one of the sixty-nine from his Company never found. Louise Babb gave birth to a daughter on July 30, 1945. She named her Byra, in honor of her father.