Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1942 Lucky Bag:

ALEX DAVID CHAPMAN BYERS

Alex, A.D.C.

Soccer 4; Small Bore Rifle 4, 3, r42t; Sailing 4,3, 2, 2, sNg; 2/c P.O.; Boat Club 4, 3, 2, 1; Radio Club 4,3,2, 1; C.P.O.

St. Louis, Missouri, lost a good man when Alex decided to join the Navy. The last word and the last second before the late bell are as valuable to him as a week-end dragging. Although he tried his eagle eye at small bore his first two years, good sailor that he is, he received his letter in sailing. Conversation around Alex will never lag, nor will he lack friends, especially of the fairer sex.

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The Class of 1942 graduated on December 19, 1941, less than two weeks after the United States entered World War II. The class had previously been scheduled to graduate in February 1942.

Loss

From the now-defunct website A4Skyhawk.net:

February 20, 1957: Cdr. Alexander D. C. Byers, CO, was killed when his A4D-1 BuNo 142147 crashed into San Francisco Bay about one mile south of International Airport. The plane apparently developed engine trouble at a low altitude and he ejected, but the chute failed to open completely before he hit the water.

He was commanding officer of Attack Squadron (VA) 153 at the time. (It had been renamed after he took command; was previously Fighter Squadron (VF) 153.) The squadron had only completed their transition to the new aircraft the previous week.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Alexander was born in North Carolina. In 1935, his family summered in Mexico City and then Elkmont, Tennessee, in the Smoky Mountains. He graduated from John Burroughs School in 1936. Rifle Club.

He received a congressional appointment to West Point in June 1937. However, he entered the Naval Academy on July 1, 1937.

In 1920, Alexander and his family lived in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1939, his father Army Major Rufus Byers was transferred to Mississippi State College.

Alexander is buried in Tennessee. He was “survived by his wife, Elizabeth, a son, stepson, and step-daughter.” (Information from April 1957 issue of Shipmate.)

Wartime Service

In August of 1943 he was a part of the commissioning crew of USS Colahan (DD 658). It seems he served aboard until the end of the war.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag

From his high school yearbook