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Interview with Mr. Merle Ainley Mr. Smith: This is Friday, September 26, 2003. My name is Ned Smith, representing the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. I will be doing an oral history today with Merle E. Ainley, from Iowa. We are in the conference room of the Bush Gallery at the Museum. Merle, where and when were you born? Mr. Ainley: I was born in Independence, Missouri, on August 19, 1926. Mr. Smith: Who are your parents? Mr. Ainley: My father was Thornton Ainley and my mother was Bernice Menz. Mr. Smith: Did you have brothers and sisters? Mr. Ainley: Yes. Two brothers and one sister. Mr. Smith: Did your brothers have to serve in the military? Mr. Ainley: No they were younger than I. Mr. Smith: Where did you go to school? Mr. Ainley: I went to school in Demoyne, Iowa and graduated in 1944. Mr. Smith: Did you enlist right after that? Mr. Ainley: I enlisted to keep from being drafted. Mr. Smith: Where and when did you enlist? Mr. Ainley: I enlisted in Demoyne and went to Farragut, Idaho for my boot training. Mr. Smith: Why would a boy from mid United States pick the Navy. Mr. Ainley: Well, I didn't want to be in the Army. Mr. Smith: Did you have friends who had been in the Navy?
Mr. Ainley: Yes. Mr. Smith: Let's go back to your High School. I understand you went to a technical high school? Mr. Ainley: Yes. The first technical high school in the United States. They taught radio, machine shop and aircraft mechanics. Just about everything. seemed to fit right into the Navy. That is one reason I went in. And out of our class 80% of the men graduates went into the Navy. Mr.Smith: You said you went to Farragut for boot training, I assume your high school had training that helped you in your boot training?
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Merle Ainley. Ainley joined the Navy in September of 1944. He completed Radar School in Hawaii, and served as a Radar Specialist and navigator aboard USS Finch (DE-328). They traveled to Guam, Leyte and maneuvered along the China Coast, with a carrier task force. They transported prisoners-of-war from Taiwan and Formosa to Manila. They traveled to Saipan and completed occupation duty in Hong Kong, completing air sea rescue and charting harbors. He returned to the US and was discharged in June of 1946.
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