William Aalto

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.

Early life William Eric Aalto, of Finnish extraction, was born in the Bronx, New York on July 30, 1915. His mother had emigrated to the United States eight years earlier. 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.

Spanish Civil War

Aalto arrived in Spain on February 17, 1937,

At the end of 1937, Aalto took part in the Battle of Teruel, working behind enemy lines again with Kunslich, Goff and Spanish guerrillas. 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In September 1938, with a Republican defeat in sight, the Abraham Lincoln Battalion was withdrawn from the front line and shortly afterwards disbanded. William Aalto returned to the United States.

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." In September 1943, while training soldiers in demolition work, Aalto saw someone drop a live grenade and lunged for it. Before he could throw it away, the bomb exploded, severing his arm at the wrist.

Aalto then travelled to Europe, where he met the poet W.H. Auden. Though sharing the company of other poets, Aalto now wrote little and tended towards alcoholism, frequently becoming violent.

Aalto's association with writers Jack Kerouac and Alan Ansen is mentioned briefly in Kerouac's novel The Subterraneans, where he is called "Nick Spain" : "...and Mardou with dame-like majesty all this time in the easy chair in the corner of the library (where once I'd seen the famous one-armed Nick Spain sit when Bromberg on a happier early time in the year played for us the original recording of The Rake's Progress)..."

William Aalto died of leukemia in June 1958, and was buried in Long Island National Cemetery.

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