He attended public schools in Columbia and enrolled for a year at Illinois State University.

[1] Weinel saw action in the Pacific theatre as a Destroyer Officer on the USS Maury (DD-401).

During the Korean War, he served as an air officer on the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge (CV-45).

[1] From 1956 to 1957, he served in the Carrier Division 5 and from 1961 to 1962, he commanded the ammunition ship USS Great Sitkin (AE-17).

[3] He died in 2004 and was buried at the Saint Paul Evangelical Cemetery in Columbia, Illinois.