USMC Lt. Edwin "Ed" Hines Finlayson Jr. was born in Ashville, Jefferson County, Florida on August 15, 1922, the son of Edwin Hines Sr. (Hines also listed as Hall) (1894-1995) and Marguerite Meadows (1898-1987). By 1918, his father had relocated from Quitman, GA to Ashville, Jefferson County, Florida. Here, he made his home while working as a farmer as well as being appointed postmaster in 1919. By 1930, he had become a county agriculture demonstration agent whose job was to assist local farmers in a variety of issues. Around 1935, he took the same job in Escambia County and remained here for some time before passing away in his hometown of Ashville in 1995.
After coming to Pensacola with his family, Edwin Jr. entered the public school system before enrolling in Pensacola High School. There, he was on the track team in '38 and '39 before graduating in 1940. He entered the University of Florida where he completed a course under the (CAA) Civil Aviation Authority who ran the Civilian Pilot Training Program to provide new pilots. Since they were at Florida, their group became known as the "Flying Gators." He enlisted in the Navy's V-5 program in Atlanta, GA on May 25, 1942 and was assigned to the flight school at Athens, GA. Afterwards he went to NAS Dallas, TX for preliminary flight training and then to NAS Corpus Christi, TX. He would receive his wings on April 17, 1943 before transferring to the USMC air corps. He made one more stop at Vero Beach for group flying school before reporting to his new VMFA-142 squadron at El Toro, CA.
The squadron was deployed on September 17, 1943 to Munda in New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. Their first mission was to bomb the Japanese fortress of Rabaul, which would continue for six weeks. After a rest of one week in Australia, the squadron was stationed in the New Hebrides Island group where they remained for one month for replenishment. Leaving the New Hebrides, the squadron flew to Green Island in the north Solomon Islands and returned to bombing Rabaul again. However, this time they included the bombing of Kavieng, a combination Japanese naval and air base on New Ireland about 150 miles from Rabaul. At this stage of the war, Japanese air power had been decimated, but it was left to Ed's squadron to keep the Japanese flying fields and supply stations under a continuous bombing.
In one air battle over Rabaul, Ed told of a enemy pilot that quietly flew in from the rear and "joined" their formation and was lined up to shoot down the Americans. But Ed's rear gunner, Sgt. Gordon Pix saw him and shot him down. In that battle, over 150 enemy planes attacked them and 65 of them were shot down. In another fight, Ed heard a New Zealand pilot come on the radio and calmly state, "Hey, come on down here, I've got 40 Zero's cornered!" This October 1944 published story was repeated by every newspaper across America. After the squadron's rotation back to the states, Ed was assigned as an instructor at the Navy Air Training base at Corpus Christi, TX.
Immediately upon Japan's surrender, Ed married in fiancée Sarena Lanier Stripling (1921-2011) of Orlando, Florida on September 6, 1945. His military service would take him to Korea and Vietnam before retiring in 1970. He would teach at the University of Florida in Economics for ten years before passing away on October 3, 1991 in Orlando. He was buried with his family in the Finlayson Cemetery in Ashville, Florida.
USMC Navy Dauntless Dive Bomber of the VMFA-142
Lt. Edwin Hines Finlayson Jr., USMC SBD Pilot, WWII
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