Aalto, William Eric (32175470): Difference between revisions

William Eric Aalto (born William Oliver Ahlström, July 30, 1915 – June 11, 1958) was an American soldier and member of the communist Abraham Lincoln Battalion, a unit that volunteered to fight during the Spanish Civil War for the Popular Front. William Eric Aalto, of Finnish extraction, was born in the Bronx, New York on July 30, 1915. From 1937 to 1939, he served as Captain with the Abraham Lincoln Battalion (International Brigade) in Spanish Civil War. William worked for newspaper; Public Relations. He [Served as Captain with Loyalists in Spanish Civil War]. She enrolled in the local communist party, educating her son with Marxist ideology. After leaving school, he worked as a truck driver and was a member of the Young Communist League. He was later promoted to captain on June 5. In September 1938, with a Republican defeat in sight, the Abraham Lincoln Battalion was withdrawn from the front line and shortly afterwards disbanded. During his time in Spain, Aalto wrote: "A soldier who is politically conscious that he is right and who has a feeling of community with his society... will do his job well." With the help of his disability pension and the G.I. Bill, he returned to further his education, studying poetry at Columbia University. At this time, he published several pieces of his writings in the New Masses. Aalto then travelled to Europe, where he met the poet W.H.