Harold Hall Ashton was born in May 1919 in Shed, Oregon. He grew up in a family with four children. All four siblings, including his sister, served in the military. He grew up in Eureka, California. His father worked in an oil company that had him moved every two years. The family had little money, despite his dad always working. Ashton also raised chickens and hunted. He was working for an oil company in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] and attending school before the war started. While in high school, he delivered milk to his neighbors and also worked in a movie theater. He was an athlete in high school. Between his classes, he would work as an usher at the theater.

When the draft was instituted, Harold Ashton decided to enlist in the Navy with hopes of becoming a pilot. After passing his physical, he was told to report to the Army. He petitioned the draft board and was allowed to join the Navy. The Navy required two full years of college to become a pilot. Ashton completed that requirement and began training in Oakland, California. He practiced on old Navy N3Ns [Annotator's Note: Naval Aircraft Factory N3N]. After completing his training, he was sent to Corpus Christ, Texas where he completed basic training and some other training session. Ashton flew N3Ns, PBYs [Annotator's Note Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat], SNJ [Annotator's Note: Navy variant of the North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft], and several other planes while there. He was assigned to a squadron of PBYs in Norfolk, Virginia. He served in VP-21 [Annotator's Note: Patrol Squadron 21 (VP-21)], where he flew Martin Mariners [Annotator's Note: Martin PBM Mariner flying boat]. After more training, he started doing anti-submarine work. He flew from the tip of Florida to Bermuda, day and night. He used radar during his night flights. Later, Ashton was then trained in PB4Y-2s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber]. He flew in a squadron of 15 of these planes. Ashton became a patrol plane commander.

In September 1943, Harold Ashton's squadron [Annotator's Note: Patrol Squadron 21 (VP-21)] was sent to England. On the way to England, the squadron lost several planes around Greenland and Iceland. The military wanted Ashton's squadron to patrol around the Bay of Biscay [Annotator's Note: off the coast of France and Spain], but his skipper refused to fly until the squadron received new planes. They stayed in England for a month learning the different airfields. Ashton then flew to French Morocco where he was stationed just north of Casablanca. He flew anti-submarine patrols and covered convoys going to Gibraltar or England. He never sank a submarine. After his duty ended in Morocco, he was sent back to the United States where he landed in Rhode Island. He received a new airplane, new crews, and trained. He was given leave to visit his wife and daughter. It was the first time he saw his daughter. His squadron then flew to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] where he trained to go to the Pacific.

In October 1944, Harold Ashton deployed to Hawaii. He trained and patrolled there for a month, then flew to Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Mariana Islands]. He patrolled there as well, but saw very few ships. After some time, he was transferred to Leyte, Philippines. He flew along the coast of China and Formosa [Annotator's Note: present day Taiwan]. He was sent on two missions that required him to fly from Tinian to the fleet heading for the Philippines. He had to stop and refuel on Leyte [Annotator's Note: Leyte, Philippines], before he flew out to meet the fleet. From there, he flew in front of the fleet for some time, then flew to a small island. He landed in the dark during a rain storm with only one brake working. A man from the Red Cross greeted the crew with a basket of candy and fruit. The following day he flew back to Tinian. He flew around Borneo, the Philippines, Singapore, French Indochina [Annotator's Note: present day Vietnam], and Malaysia. Around Singapore, he found smaller ships the Japanese used to bring in materials. Ashton sank a number of those ships. He used fire bombs against ships and buildings.

Harold Ashton's crew flew over 100 missions including his missions in the Atlantic. He was sent back to the United States to Atlanta, Georgia to work in an instrument flight school as an instructor. By that time, the war ended and Ashton left the Navy. He was ready to be home with his family. He loved flying. After the war, the airlines were interested in military pilots, especially Navy pilots. When he returned home, the reserve squadrons were all filled. He retired as a commander. While on anti-submarine patrols, Ashton was given coordinates to fly around. If flying at a certain altitude, crews needed to use oxygen to stay conscious. Ashton did not have to do that because he had to fly low enough to see submarines in the ocean. To see an enemy submarine, he would fly around 1,000 feet above the ocean. The PBM [Annotator's Note: Martin PBM Mariner flying boat] was a comfortable plane to fly because it did not fly fast. He remembers the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber; Ashton flew the Navy variant, the Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber] being uncomfortable to get in and out of. One time, he was able to get his wife aboard his plane before he shipped out for Hawaii. One night near Norfolk [Annotator's Note: Norfolk, Virginia], Ashton saw an oil slick from a ship that had been sunk. In the Gulf of Mexico, he saw oil slicks as well. He never saw a u-boat [Annotator's Note: German submarine; unterseeboot], only the after affects. While flying over the Mediterranean [Annotator's Note: Mediterranean Sea], he tried to find a submarine, but could not see anything. Off of Bermuda, Ashton's executive officer dove on a u-boat, but the bombs dropped in the wrong spot. The officer flew back to base with one engine.

Harold Ashton enjoyed his time in Morocco. The airfields were good, and he would patrol around the Bay of Biscay [Annotator's Note: off the coast of France ans Spain]. There would be up to three planes patrolling or flying with a convoy. The weather was good, but once in a while there would be rough conditions. He did not always get good weather reports. Sometimes he would have to fly low to the water to get out of storms. While in the Pacific, he had to fly through two typhoons. If ships picked up a submarine, Ashton could fly into the area to intercept. He never saw a submarine attack on the convoys. Once, while leaving a convoy, one of his crewmen saw some ships explode, but they could not do anything because they were low on fuel. Submarines were more active in the Bay of Biscay. The British sank a lot of submarines there. German planes would circle around in the air, but never attacked Ashton. In the Pacific, he knew where the American submarines were supposed to be. He served with a navigator for around nine months. A plane could hold ten people. Ashton used radar to do his job. He liked the plane he piloted. His crew took good care of maintaining the plane. It was not a comfortable plane because of the confined space. They put extra gasoline in the wing of the plane. They flew back and forth to Singapore [Annotator's Note: the Republic of Singapore] to keep an eye on Japanese activity around that area. His plane was slow and not very maneuverable, so Ashton kept his distance from bigger ships and ports.

Harold Ashton's airplane had radar in it. It was very important for him to have radar, especially over water. While flying back to Bermuda one night, the navigator did not know where they were. Luckily, Ashton kept a board next to him where he wrote down his coordinates. They were able to make it back to the island. It could be stressful navigating over water. Ashton thought the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] was a good plane. Ashton sank a few small ships and planes and was shot at a couple times. Occasionally, he would experience friendly fire. While flying from Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Marianas Islands] to Leyte [Annotator's note: Leyte, Philippines] Ashton saw ships gathering for the Battle of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. His job was to fly ahead of the fleet to scout for submarines. He was told his IFF [Annotator's Note: Identification Friend or Foe] was not working as they flew towards the fleet. They managed to fix it before they reached the ships. Suddenly six F6Fs [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft] intercepted his plane, but they realized Ashton was a friendly. It was a scary time. He scouted up to 100 miles ahead of the fleet. Ashton and another plane flew a mission to a harbor on Okinawa. To keep from being detected by radar, a plane has to fly under the curvature of the Earth. Off of Formosa [Annotator's Note: present day Taiwan], Ashton could see Japanese radar watching him from the mainland and from the island.

Harold Ashton felt like the Germans would be better fighters, smarter people, and better trained. He thought the Japanese pilots were more concerning because they were willing to die for their country. He thinks the Japanese pilots might have gained some respect for his squadron Patrol Squadron 21 (VP-21). During an attack on Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Northern Mariana Islands], Ashton's squadron shot down six Japanese planes. He flew over Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] several times, but did not think anyone was on the island. He never experienced mass attacks, maybe just a single plane. Some of the planes in his squadron were shot down. His plane had several machine guns around the plane, except there was no belly gunner. Sometimes there would be gasoline leaks. It is a scary situation to be in. Fortunately, he was able to land and get his plane fixed. One of Ashton's neighbors had to abandon a plane mid-flight because of leaking fuel. He believes World War 2 made him grow up. A number of years ago, one of his tail-gunners sent him a thank you card for getting him home safely. He thinks he did a good job. Occasionally other crews would ask to fly with him. Some crews were piloted by dare devils. One pilot seemed to always have something going on. While in Morocco, Ashton's executive officer was flying through a bad storm. Ashton was supposed to fly out, but refused to go until the executive officer returned. He eventually landed and told Ashton not to go out.

Harold Ashton was never really attacked and tried to do what he was supposed to do. He enjoyed flying and felt like his service helped him grow up. He had a wife and kid at home. Some airlines were looking for pilots with his experiences. He decided he wanted to be with his family instead. He thinks the country [Annotator's Note: the United States] can be proud of its accomplishment in World War 2. Ashton has respect for infantry. He thinks the Marines are amazing people. He is amazed by the armed forces. He does not like seeing people, including a president, dodge the draft. He does not like seeing the media playing up massacres. It makes him stop and think, but he respects service people. He thinks fighting in World War 2 saved the world. He believes Germany was on its way to world power. He does not understand how Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] could get the backing of all of Germany. He does not understand why the country goes to the places it goes to when it is not respected. He is worried about the bias of the media. Ashton thinks the United States helped win the war. He believes the idea that Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] knew the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] is hard to believe. He believes Roosevelt did what he believed was right, despite not being a fan of that president. He thinks it is important for the existence of The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] because it helps people remember how things happened. When Ashton made it to the Pacific, things had greatly calmed down. He believes he did a good job at his missions. He is proud of his service, but does not brag about it. He wishes he could have done more.