[YouTube] Harry Columbus Byron, Jr. came to Tappahannock in 1996 to join his sisters and his nephews, Phil Stinchcomb and Gary Youngling. The extended family had settled here after Phil’s employer transferred him to Tappahannock. For 20 years, Byron lived comfortably in his cherished cabin on Youngling Place in Dunnsville until he was moved to The Orchard in Warsaw, for a short time, before he passed away in 2016. At the age of 98 his physical health was poor but his mental health was sharp as ever.
He served as a U.S. Army Private First Class and Technician 5 during World War II and kept a neat footlocker of his clothes, photos, and treasured memorabilia. After he died, his nephews, Phil and Gary, discovered his WWII footlocker under a pile of blankets in a closet. They agreed to donate the footlocker and its contents to the Essex History Museum to be shared as it saw fit. The footlocker and its contents will be on display at the Essex History Museum in the Historic District of Tappahannock, when the museum reopens after coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, this video not only opens the footlocker, but it opens the treasurers of a young Army soldier during World War II. |