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William Eric Aalto
| William Eric Aalto | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | William Oliver Ahlström |
| Born | 30 July 1915 New York City |
| Died | 11 June 1958 New York City |
| Nativity | United States |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch | International Brigades |
| Arm / service | International Brigades; Office of Strategic Services |
| ASN | 32175470 |
| Rank | Captain; First Sergeant |
| Rank at Ritchie | Technical Sergeant |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 5 (8 February – 9 April 1943) |
| Section | 1B |
| Enlisted | Cp Upton Yaphank, New York |
| Battles / wars | Spanish Civil War Battle of Teruel Carchuna Raid World War II |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
William Eric Aalto (born William Oliver Ahlström; 30 July 1915 – 11 June 1958) was an American soldier who fought with the Abraham Lincoln Battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War and later served with the Office of Strategic Services and at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, where he is listed with Class 5 and instructed in close combat and demolition.
Biography[edit | edit source]
William Eric Aalto was born William Oliver Ahlström in the Bronx, New York, on 30 July 1915, into a family of Finnish extraction. His mother, who had emigrated to the United States about eight years earlier, joined the local Communist Party and raised him on Marxist ideas. After leaving school, Aalto worked as a truck driver and belonged to the Young Communist League.
Aalto reached Spain on 17 February 1937 and joined the International Brigades at Albacete, entering the Spanish Communist Party the following month. He volunteered for guerrilla operations that kept him behind enemy lines for weeks at a time; with fellow brigaders Alex Kunslich and Irving Goff he was trained by Soviet instructors in pressure-sensitive explosives for attacks on railways, bridges, and power lines, among them the main supply bridge over the Albarracín River, an operation that may have inspired Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. At the end of 1937 he worked behind the lines again during the Battle of Teruel. On 23 May 1938, by then a lieutenant, Aalto led the amphibious raid on the Fort of Carchuna near Motril, which freed about 300 Republican prisoners, and he was promoted to captain on 5 June. When the Abraham Lincoln Battalion was withdrawn from the front in September 1938 and disbanded, he returned to the United States. During his time in Spain he wrote that "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."
Aalto enlisted at Camp Upton, New York, on 8 October 1941. Irving Goff recommended him to the Office of Strategic Services, and by December 1942 he was assigned to the OSS as a technical sergeant. After Aalto confided to Goff that he was gay, Goff and other Lincoln veterans in the OSS asked William Donovan to remove him from their team. Aalto was assigned to Camp Ritchie in January 1943 and in April joined Section VIII (Close Combat, including Demolition), training soldiers in demolition work. In 1943, while instructing a class, he lunged for a live grenade that a trainee had dropped; it exploded before he could throw it clear and severed his hand at the wrist. Later that year he was assigned to the 424th Infantry Regiment, promoted to first sergeant, and returned to Camp Ritchie, and he was afterward transferred to the 26th Infantry Division at Camp Campbell.
With the help of his disability pension and the G.I. Bill, Aalto studied poetry at Columbia University and published pieces in the New Masses. He drifted away from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, traveled in Europe, where he met W. H. Auden, and later worked in newspaper and public-relations work. He wrote little in his last years and struggled with alcoholism. Toward the end of his life he was the partner of the poet James Schuyler, who wrote about him in "Dining Out with Doug and Frank", and he appears as the one-armed "Nick Spain" in Jack Kerouac's The Subterraneans. Aalto died of leukemia in New York City on 11 June 1958 and was buried in Long Island National Cemetery.
Research notes[edit | edit source]
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Technical record[edit | edit source]
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 43 |
| Nara ASN | 32175470 |
| Nara Name | AALTO WILLIAM E |
| Nara State | 23 |
| Nara County | 5 |
| Nara POE | 2314 |
| Nara DOE | 81041 |
| Nara Grade Alpha | PVT |
| Nara Grade Code | 8 |
| Nara Branch Alpha | BI |
| Nara Branch Code | 0 |
| Branch | Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA |
| Nara Term or Enlistment | 0 |
| Term of enlistment | Unknown |
| Defer. Date | 0 |
| Nara Source | 0 |
| Nara Nativity | 23 |
| Nativity.1 | NEW YORK |
| Nara Year of Birth | 15 |
| Nara Race | 1 |
| Nara Race Description | White citizen |
| Nara Education | 4 |
| Nara Civilian Occupation | 472 |
| Nara Marital Status | 6 |
| Nara Height (inches) | 72 |
| Nara Weight (lbs) | 212 |
| Class_ASN | 32175470 |
| Class_Name | AALTO, William E. |
| match_method | asn_exact_name_exact |
| row_source | both |
Timeline[edit | edit source]
- 30 July 1915 — Born William Oliver Ahlström in the Bronx, New York.
- 1937 — 1939 Served as Captain with the Abraham Lincoln Battalion (International Brigade) in Spanish Civil War.
- 17 February 1937 — Arrived in Spain and joined the International Brigades at Albacete.
- 23 May 1938 — Led the amphibious raid on the Fort of Carchuna, freeing about 300 Republican prisoners.
- 5 June 1938 — Promoted to captain.
- 8 October 1941 — Enlisted at Camp Upton as Pvt (ASN: 32175470).
- December 1942 — Assigned to OSS as T/Sgt.
- January 1943 — Assigned to Camp Ritchie.
- 17 April 1943 — Assigned to Section VIII (Close Combat, including Demolition).
- October 1943 — Assigned to 424th Infantry Regiment (as Pfc).
- 30 October 1943 — Assigned to DEML.
- 1 November 1943 — Promoted to 1st Sgt.
- 20 November 1943 — Assigned to Camp Ritchie.
- 11 June 1958 — Died of leukemia in New York City; buried in Long Island National Cemetery.
- Transferred to 26th Infantry Division, Camp Campbell.
Sources[edit | edit source]
- Wikipedia: William Aalto
- Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
- Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
- NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
- 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of William E. Aalto for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 3 source documents reviewed)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Aalto, William E. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 3 source files: WILLIAM (and FRED) AALTO.doc, WILLIAM E. AALTO (2021).docx, WILLIAM E. AALTO.doc)