Frank Farris Fincher
T/4 in Signal Co, Special : Radio A
Military occupational specialty: 776 (radio operator, low speed)
ASN#38120656
Born 1917 in OK, Died 2003
County of residence at enlistment: Ector County, TX
Other residence(s): Rush Springs, OK; Odessa, TX; Amarillo, TX
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: semiskilled occupations in production of petroleum
Frank Fincher was born on April 25, 1917 in Marlow, OK, the second of five children. His father was a farmer, and later a carpenter and contractor. The family lived in several different towns in Oklahoma.
Frank had two years of high school and worked as a carpenter's helper, possibly for his father. By 1935, the family was living in Rush Springs, OK and in 1937 they moved to Odessa, TX.
Frank married Miriam Kemp sometime before he registered for the draft on October 16, 1940; he enlisted on May 7, 1942. At that time his employment was listed as "semi-skilled occupation in the production of petroleum." He was first sent to Fort Knox to train with the 8th Armored Division, but eventually became a radio operator in the Signal Company Special, and served in Europe with the Ghost Army.
He was discharged on October 8, 1945 with the rank of T/4 and went back to Odessa where he was involved in 1946 with the formation of a new Odessa World War II veterans' group called the V-II's; the group planned to organize for civic betterment in the community.
Sometime after the war ended he and Miriam divorced, and on August 28, 1950 he married Drury Ilene Bass who was also divorced from her first husband. They would go on to have a son, Farris Dale, in 1954. Along the way the family moved to Amarillo, TX.
Little else is known of his life and work. He died on February 10, 2003 and is buried at Claude Cemetery in Claude, TX (about 30 miles east of Amarillo).
1920 census
1930 census
1940 census
1940 draft card
1940 marriage record
1942 enlistment record
1942 article in the Odessa American (TX) re his military service
https://www.newspapers.com/image/300267027/?terms=frank%20f%20fincher&match=1
1946 article in the Odessa American (TX) re a veterans organization
https://www.newspapers.com/image/300288294/?terms=frank%20f%20fincher&match=1
1950-1993 US public records index
1954 Texas birth index
1973 mother's obituary in the Odessa American (TX)
2003 Social Security applications and claims index
2003 VA death record
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1634745:2441?ssrc=pt&tid=24881559&pid=292323010304
2003 Find a Grave record
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/145529640/frank-farris-fincher