Veteran patrolled Atlantic in search of submarines

William “Bill” Byrne said he was one of many young men who fudged their age to join the fight during World War II.

“I lied on my birth certificate,” the U.S. Navy veteran said. “I took a knife and scratched the ink away,” altering the date of his birth.

“You're eligible to enlist at 161/2

Byrne qualified as an air crewman and quickly learned how to identify aircraft in flight, how to send and receive Morse Code, and how to read flag signals.

He was tested on these skills, passed with flying colors and skipped three pay grades for his efforts, immediately achieving the rank of Seaman First Class.

Byrne was assigned to a composite squadron in Jacksonville, Fla., for flight training and to learn how to fire 50-caliber machine guns.

Byrne, who by then was an Aviation Machinist Mate Third Class, was assigned to a torpedo bomber where he would serve as an aerial turret gunner.

Two planes, each crewed by three men, were on training patrol out in the Atlantic while waiting for deployment overseas.

Although the men were still in training, the Navy used them to patrol for enemy submarines.

“We didn't have radar,” so we had to patrol the sea by sight, he said.

As a turret gunner, Byrne had the clearest view of the ocean.

One time, Byrne thought he saw the massive shape of a submarine appear near the surface of the water.

The crew dropped four depth charges.

The powerful blasts rocked the ocean, but there was no sub to be seen.

Not long after, a whale submerged.

“Fortunately for the whale, we didn't do any serious damage,” he said. “There was no blood in the water. He seemed to be OK. We just woke him — and gave him a slight headache.”

Another time, the men scored a “probable” hit of a German submarine.

After sighting the sub and dropping their depth charges, oil and debris percolated to the surface.

But in those days, in order to get credit for a sunk submarine, you had to have a piece of the wreckage.

Since the men weren't flying sea planes, there was no way they could land and grab a piece of evidence.

Although six guys witnessed the sinking, “they didn't give us a confirmed,” Byrne said.

Byrne recalls some memorable flights through the air space in an area over the Atlantic Ocean that would later be dubbed “The Bermuda Triangle.”

When the torpedo bomber approached a certain area, the altimeter and the compass would flip out, he said.

“Our instruments would start acting goofy,” he said. “The needles would fluctuate wildly for about two minutes. You didn't think much about it at the time. We kind of figured it was a kind of magnetic thing. It scared the hell out of us.”

The men were still waiting for deployment on a U.S. Navy carrier when the war ended.

“To my knowledge, I was never shot at,” Byrne said.

It's something he'll always be thankful for, he said.