William
Aalto
was
born in the United States. A member of the Communist
Party,
Aalto joined the Abraham Lincoln Battalion,
a unit that volunteered to fight for the Popular
Front government during the Spanish
Civil War.
Aalto arrived in Spain
in 1937 and joined the other International
Brigades at Albacete. While in Spain he 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."
During the Second
World War he joined the United
States Army and
served in North Africa. Aalto was recruited
by the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS) but
after it was discovered he was homosexual he was dismissed by William
Donovan from
the service. Aalto
returned to the army and while training soldiers he had his hand blown
off by a grenade.
After the war Aalto studied
at Columbia University. He also wrote for the New
Masses but was expelled from the Communist
Party
because of his homosexuality.
William
Aalto died
of leukemia in 1958.
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