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Mr. Finley No. I got busy and separated myself entirely from everything. Mr. Misenhimer Did you have any trouble adjusting to civilian life? Mr. Finley No. See I was in the third year of college. I was majoring in chemistry at Montana State University in Bozeman. While I was over there I met a lot of guys that to me weren't very diplomatic acting. I met a lot that were but the guys that I had to associate with, were guys that you couldn't, well like you and I sit and discuss something, when you got to the point where they didn't agree with you, they wanted to fight. I hated that sort of thing. I thought about all of this and when I got back to Montana State University I went to them and told them, "I want to get out of chemistry. I want to change over and get myself a teaching degree." Of course they advised me not to but I did and I never have felt bad. I've had a couple of chances to go on and get myself a doctorate but I never did take them. I finally got an honorary one but I never did the whole process. I just got that honorary one from the Physical Sciences Academy. It is located back East and I was recommended by one of my former students who is a Doctor of Nuclear Science at Berkeley. What they were doing is giving these out to people who had done well in
teaching physics. That was my weakest subject but that's what she got it for me in. I thought, "That's okay." When I came back I went to work on this degree in science teaching at Montana State. I finally got it without any trouble. I had abandoned most of the science stuff, the strictly science stuff so I could get some credits that would help me out in teaching.
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Albert Finley. Finley joined the Marine Corps around December of 1943. He provides vivid details of his boot camp experiences. He served with Headquarters Company, 4th Marines, as a radar mechanic on Corsairs, repairing radio and radar gear. Beginning in September of 1944 they traveled to Guam, Kwajalein, Pearl Harbor and Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Finley shares a number of anecdotal stories, including working with POWs. He was discharged in the fall of 1946.
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