A small town guy at heart, Dale Byrd always stepped up í__ for family, community and country. As a Marine, he served in World War II and the Korean War, then spent another 20 years as a firefighter who gave back to his community and his profession. And when he married, he stepped up and adopted all five of his wife's children, becoming their father from day one. During a pitched battle near the air duct of an explosive industrial fire, Dale Byrd suffered a massive heart attack. His fire service legacy lives on in son Gary, a Big Bear firefighter.