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Mr. Smith: Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith: Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith: Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith: Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith: Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith: Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith:
Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith: Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith: Mr. Ainley: Mr. Smith:
Then you came back to Pearl and then what? We were sitting in dry dock and it was terribly hot down in that hole and they were sand blasting the hull and it was very dirty and noisy and I asked to be transferred. The Yoeman transferred me to the Finch. What type of vessel was the Finch? It was a Destroyer Escort. When you went to Iwo, were you under fire? No. The Whitehurst was on picket duty off of Okinawa during the battle of Okinawa. You didn't get shot at during that duty? I wasn't on while they were doing picket duty. I didn't get aboard. The Kamikaze hit the bridge, hit the wheel house and the bridge was practically all burned. So they had withdrawn and then I went on board. You went back to Pearl and was assigned to Finch, and then where did you go? We took off for Eniwetok and then Guam and then the Layte Gulf, and all up and down the China coast. And what was the ships mission at this time? When we left the Layte Gulf we took off twelve hundred prisons of war off Tiawan or Formosa at that time. Then we took them back to Manila and they were in very serious condition. Then we went back to Saipan and then to Hong Kong. We spent a lot of time in Hong Kong. This was after the war was over. So then you were just on patrol duty?
Yes, air sea rescue and charting harbors. My duty on board ship was working the radar, navigating, and we would locate landmarks to keep from going aground. Did you have close buddies aboard ship? Yes. Some of them I knew real well, but I've become well acquainted with some today that I wasn't on board. About how many did you have on board? We had about one hundred eighty-three. Was that including the officers?
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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Ainley, Merle.Oral History Interview with Merle Ainley, September 26, 2003,
text,
September 26, 2003;
Fredericksburg, Texas.
(https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1604391/m1/4/:
accessed July 16, 2024),
University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu;
crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.