Ayres, M. Fairfax Jr.

Description

Henry Fairfax Ayres Jr.

Henry Fairfax Ayres Jr. was born on November 3, 1918, in New York, New York, to Elise Bevan Miller, age 31, and Henry Fairfax Ayres, age 32. In Rye his family lived on Manursing Lodge and were members of Christ’s Church.

His father Henry Fairfax Ayres served in both WWI and WWII; he was a Colonel in the Air Force during WWII and oversaw the convoying of pilots and crews in both the Pacific and European Theaters.

Henry Jr. was a graduate of the Kent School and Yale University. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II.

He enlisted, June 26, 1940, in Troop K, 101st Cavalry Regiment, NYNG, at the Madison Avenue Armory, New York City. The 101st Cavalry was federalized, January 27, 1941, for what was to be one year of service. The regiment was assigned to Fort Devens, MA, for training.

In the fall of 1941, the regiment took part in the Carolina maneuvers. On the return convoy back to Fort Devens, December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and no one was going home in a year. He attended OCS and was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant, July 27, 1942.
Henry F. Ayres, Jr. served in the South Pacific for thirty-two months with the Field Artillery.

He was promoted to captain and had participated in the invasions of Guadalcanal, the Solomon’s and Luzon. Henry received an honorable
discharge from the Field Artillery in October 1945.

After the war he went to live in Pittsburgh, where he was associated with the White Chemical Company. In 1948 he moved to Baltimore. He had been transferred from New York to head the Baltimore office of the Ralph C.
Coxhead Corporation.

Henry spent his career in advertising. He married Deirdre Gibbs in Greenwich, Connecticut, on May 8, 1965, when he was 46 years old. They had one child during their marriage.

Henry Fairfax Ayres died on October 27, 1996, in Greenwich, Connecticut, He was 77.