1924

• Born April 1 in West Orange, New Jersey, the fourth of five children of Francis A. Byrne (1888-1973) and his spouse Genevieve (Brennan) Byrne. Francis, a long-time local politician, served as West Orange Tax Assessor, chair of the West Orange Zoning Board of Adjustment, West Orange Town Commissioner and member of the Essex County Tax Board.
• Also on this date, Royal Canadian Air Force is founded and Adolph Hitler is sentenced to five years in prison for treason after a 24-day trial in which he gains wide public exposure for his views.

1942

• Graduates from West Orange High School, where he served as president of the debating club and senior class president.
• Enrolls at Seton Hall University.

• In March, leaves Seton Hall to enlist in the Army Air Corps. His service as a B-17 navigator in the European Theater in World War II earns him the Distinguished Flying Cross, four Air Medals, and a Presidential Unit Citation.

• On June 6, Allies launch D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France.

1945

• World War II ends with Germany's surrender of its remaining armies on May 7 and--following dropping of atomic bombs at Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9--Japan's surrender on August 15.
• In September, BTB honorably discharged from military service, having attained the rank of lieutenant with the 414th Bomb Squadron of the 15th Air Force. He subsequently serves in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
• Enrolls at Princeton University under the G.I. Bill.

• On July 5, Larry Doby of Paterson, later a close friend of BTB and his family, becomes second African-American to play major league baseball and first in the American League when he breaks in with the Cleveland Indians. Doby's major league debut follows four seasons of starring for the Newark Eagles in the Negro National League.
• On November 4, New Jersey voters approve by referendum a new State Constitution drafted in a Constitutional Convention held from June 12 to September 10 on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University. Most of the new Constitution's provisions become effective on the following January 1.

• Graduates from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs with an A.B. upon completion of the thesis Proportional Representation in Municipal Government, although his coursework is actually completed by the fall of 1948
• On April 1, BTB's 25th birthday, the twenty-six counties of the Irish Free State become the Republic of Ireland.

• Graduates from Harvard Law School with L.L.B. and begins clerking for Judge Joseph Weintraub.

• In February, passes the New Jersey bar exam.
• Begins law career at the firm of McGlynn, Weintraub and Stein. BTB would also work as an associate of Newark lawyer John W. McGeehan.
• Begins serving on the West Orange Planning Board and continues as a member until January 1, 1958.

• On June 27 marries Jean Featherly, a school teacher from West Orange.
• Democrat Robert B. Meyner is elected governor of New Jersey in November, defeating Republican Paul Troast.

• Jean Byrne gives birth on June 9 to son Brendan T. "Tom" Byrne, Jr. The Byrnes are shown above with (right to left) their first three children, Tom, Susan and Nancy; they later would have Tim, Mary Anne, Barbara and Bill.