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S/Sgt Thaine J. Hale graduated from Hardy High School with the class of 1937 and attended Peru State Teachers College for three years before he joined the National Guard in Nebraska City, Nebraska on 23 December 1940.

He was awarded the Purple Heart Medal a first time for wounds received in St. Lo, France. After recovering in a hospital in England, he returned to his unit on 7 August 1944.

He was awarded the Silver Star posthumously. The citation cited: Sgt Hale was one of a group of eighty soldiers of the 1st Battalion, encircled by enemy forces within the town of Amance and forced to take refuge, along with twenty prisoners they had captured, in barns. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Sgt Hale, a platoon guide, voluntarily and alone, made his way through enemy lines, met an American tank and, riding on the outside dispersed the enemy and provided covering fire which enabled the eighty soldiers to rejoin their units with their prisoners. Sgt Hale was killed by fire from an enemy tank during withdrawal from the area. His gallant actions, initiative, and utter disregard for personal safety enabled a large group of his comrades-in-arms to extricate themselves from a precarious position.

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery in Andilly, France.