CPL. William Aho
U.S. Army Air Corps. – Clerk Typist
8th Air Force / 94th Bomb Group / 333rd Bomb Squadron
Bury St. Edmunds, England
January ’43 – December ‘45
U.S. Army Air Corps. – Clerk Typist
8th Air Force / 94th Bomb Group / 333rd Bomb Squadron
Bury St. Edmunds, England
January ’43 – December ‘45
William Aho was born January 29, 1918, in Bessmer, MI in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Bessmer was one of five towns clustered around an iron ore deposit. Later the family moved to nearby Ironwood. Both of Bill’s parents came to the U.S. from Finland and they met each other at a social function at the Finnish community center. Bill’s father worked in the iron mines and worked his way up to foreman.
Bill had one sister, “and she lived to be 101”. “The longevity gene comes from my mother’s side. All of the cousins on her side approached 100 or over 100”.
During the Great Depression the mines closed, and his father decided to buy a farm with 20 acres and 8 cows. The total cost was $1,600. “It was primitive. No electricity and an Outhouse”. Billed recalled having a sauna or Finnish bath outside. Everyone in the family pitched in with running the farm including his mother. “She milked the cows,” Bill recalled. Bill remembered bringing in the cows, haying and collecting and spreading the manure.
Bill’s father was able to earn a respectable living during the depression by selling the milk to a cooperative creamery. Bill recalls there being plenty of food. “It was not so bad. We helped our friends with eggs and milk.”
After four years of running the farm, the mines reopened. His father sold the farm, the family moved back into town, and he returned to his job as foreman.
Bill attended Luther L. Wright High School in Ironwood. He recalled attending school with students of many nationalities. Bill was on the basketball team and ran the high and low hurdles on the track team. He graduated in 1936 and attended junior college before moving on to Michigan State. While at Michigan State he recalled having lunch one Sunday with his soon-to-be wife when he learned that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.
Bill initially thought he “would become an accountant or something like that.” One of his friends at Michigan State got him interested in agriculture and he took a special interest in poultry. Bill also took a special interest in Sylvia Palomaki, a young Finnish girl he met while a social event at the Lutheran church on the Michigan State campus. “I was very lucky to meet her”.
He graduated in 1941 and decided to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps. It took a year before the Army called and in the interim, he taught Agriculture for a year in Cassopolis, a town in lower Michigan. When the Army called, Bill was sent to bootcamp in North Carolina. The Army decided he was well suited to be a Navigator, “but I failed that”.
Bill’s next stop was Las Vegas, Nevada. Bill recalled a local farmer requesting help from the Army during his melon harvest. Bill and several other GI’s helped the farmer harvest his melons and he was paid the princely sum of $18 and was given a pass to Las Vegas. What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, including Bill’s money. “It took me only one night to lose that $18.
Bill was in a pool for reassignment. While waiting for reassignment he was given training as an aerial machine gunner for the B-26 bomber. When the Army Air Corps. learned he could type he was reassigned as a clerk typist. Bill was sent to a base in West Texas where they needed a typist and Bill was assigned to the 94th Bomb Group and the 333 Bomb Squadron. Bill and Sylvia decided to tie the knot on Christmas Day of 1942 and Sylvia moved to West Texas to live with Bill. They were married for 75 years.
Bill recalled crossing the Atlantic by ship and arriving in England. His base was located in the town of Bury St. Edmunds which is north of London and east of Cambridge. Bill served as a clerk typist in the office on the Air Base.
Bill’s daughter Janet was born in 1945 while he was in England. He received a letter telling him a child was born. He wrote back and said to “name him Paul”. Sylvia wrote back and said, ‘it’s a girl and I named her Janet’. Bill recalled “corresponding pretty regularly” with Sylvia but the letters were heavily redacted by the sensors.
Before the war ended Bill learned he was going to trade his typewriter for a Tommy Gun and be sent into the fight. Lucky for him, a doctor asked him what he did before the war and Bill told him he was a teacher in Cassopolis. The doctor was from the next town over and soon, Bill wasn’t available for reassignment to Europe.
“I was one of the first to come back because I was married and had a child”. When Bill returned to the states, he returned to Michigan State and earned a master’s degree in Poultry. After graduation Bill took a position with Michigan State teaching Poultry Science. In addition to beginning his career, Bill expanded his family when his son Paul was born in 1950.
In 1952 he took a position with the University of Connecticut (UCONN) as an extension agent in the Agricultural Extension Program and as a professor of Poultry Science. Bill believes he is the last professor to be hired by UCONN without a PhD. Bill had a strong background, but he believes he stood apart from the other candidates for the job because he was fluent in Finnish. At that time many of the poultry farms throughout Connecticut were owned and managed by Finnish immigrants. At the time poultry was a vibrant and growing industry in Connecticut. There were over 3,000 farms, three processing plants and four egg marketing organizations throughout the state. Bill had a busy schedule visiting the various poultry groups and veterinarians across the state. He logged a lot of miles during his 25 years at the university. He retired in 1976.
After his retirement from UCONN Bill joined Arbor Acres in Glastonbury, CT where he directed and taught poultry management. This organization was world renowned for its expertise in chicken genetics and it’s student came from around the globe. Bill traveled to many of these countries. His second career lasted almost 20 years until he retired again.
“It (poultry) was a very active industry at one time”. When he started there were thousands
Poultry farms and the Agricultural Department at UCONN developed feeds and vaccines that are still being used today. “The poultry industry eventually moved south to be closer to the (sources) feed”.
Today Bill is leaning on the genetics he inherited from his mother’s family and is a spry 106 years young. Thank you, Bill, for being part of a generation that helped save the world from evil. You showed them you were no chicken!
Bill had one sister, “and she lived to be 101”. “The longevity gene comes from my mother’s side. All of the cousins on her side approached 100 or over 100”.
During the Great Depression the mines closed, and his father decided to buy a farm with 20 acres and 8 cows. The total cost was $1,600. “It was primitive. No electricity and an Outhouse”. Billed recalled having a sauna or Finnish bath outside. Everyone in the family pitched in with running the farm including his mother. “She milked the cows,” Bill recalled. Bill remembered bringing in the cows, haying and collecting and spreading the manure.
Bill’s father was able to earn a respectable living during the depression by selling the milk to a cooperative creamery. Bill recalls there being plenty of food. “It was not so bad. We helped our friends with eggs and milk.”
After four years of running the farm, the mines reopened. His father sold the farm, the family moved back into town, and he returned to his job as foreman.
Bill attended Luther L. Wright High School in Ironwood. He recalled attending school with students of many nationalities. Bill was on the basketball team and ran the high and low hurdles on the track team. He graduated in 1936 and attended junior college before moving on to Michigan State. While at Michigan State he recalled having lunch one Sunday with his soon-to-be wife when he learned that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.
Bill initially thought he “would become an accountant or something like that.” One of his friends at Michigan State got him interested in agriculture and he took a special interest in poultry. Bill also took a special interest in Sylvia Palomaki, a young Finnish girl he met while a social event at the Lutheran church on the Michigan State campus. “I was very lucky to meet her”.
He graduated in 1941 and decided to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corps. It took a year before the Army called and in the interim, he taught Agriculture for a year in Cassopolis, a town in lower Michigan. When the Army called, Bill was sent to bootcamp in North Carolina. The Army decided he was well suited to be a Navigator, “but I failed that”.
Bill’s next stop was Las Vegas, Nevada. Bill recalled a local farmer requesting help from the Army during his melon harvest. Bill and several other GI’s helped the farmer harvest his melons and he was paid the princely sum of $18 and was given a pass to Las Vegas. What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, including Bill’s money. “It took me only one night to lose that $18.
Bill was in a pool for reassignment. While waiting for reassignment he was given training as an aerial machine gunner for the B-26 bomber. When the Army Air Corps. learned he could type he was reassigned as a clerk typist. Bill was sent to a base in West Texas where they needed a typist and Bill was assigned to the 94th Bomb Group and the 333 Bomb Squadron. Bill and Sylvia decided to tie the knot on Christmas Day of 1942 and Sylvia moved to West Texas to live with Bill. They were married for 75 years.
Bill recalled crossing the Atlantic by ship and arriving in England. His base was located in the town of Bury St. Edmunds which is north of London and east of Cambridge. Bill served as a clerk typist in the office on the Air Base.
Bill’s daughter Janet was born in 1945 while he was in England. He received a letter telling him a child was born. He wrote back and said to “name him Paul”. Sylvia wrote back and said, ‘it’s a girl and I named her Janet’. Bill recalled “corresponding pretty regularly” with Sylvia but the letters were heavily redacted by the sensors.
Before the war ended Bill learned he was going to trade his typewriter for a Tommy Gun and be sent into the fight. Lucky for him, a doctor asked him what he did before the war and Bill told him he was a teacher in Cassopolis. The doctor was from the next town over and soon, Bill wasn’t available for reassignment to Europe.
“I was one of the first to come back because I was married and had a child”. When Bill returned to the states, he returned to Michigan State and earned a master’s degree in Poultry. After graduation Bill took a position with Michigan State teaching Poultry Science. In addition to beginning his career, Bill expanded his family when his son Paul was born in 1950.
In 1952 he took a position with the University of Connecticut (UCONN) as an extension agent in the Agricultural Extension Program and as a professor of Poultry Science. Bill believes he is the last professor to be hired by UCONN without a PhD. Bill had a strong background, but he believes he stood apart from the other candidates for the job because he was fluent in Finnish. At that time many of the poultry farms throughout Connecticut were owned and managed by Finnish immigrants. At the time poultry was a vibrant and growing industry in Connecticut. There were over 3,000 farms, three processing plants and four egg marketing organizations throughout the state. Bill had a busy schedule visiting the various poultry groups and veterinarians across the state. He logged a lot of miles during his 25 years at the university. He retired in 1976.
After his retirement from UCONN Bill joined Arbor Acres in Glastonbury, CT where he directed and taught poultry management. This organization was world renowned for its expertise in chicken genetics and it’s student came from around the globe. Bill traveled to many of these countries. His second career lasted almost 20 years until he retired again.
“It (poultry) was a very active industry at one time”. When he started there were thousands
Poultry farms and the Agricultural Department at UCONN developed feeds and vaccines that are still being used today. “The poultry industry eventually moved south to be closer to the (sources) feed”.
Today Bill is leaning on the genetics he inherited from his mother’s family and is a spry 106 years young. Thank you, Bill, for being part of a generation that helped save the world from evil. You showed them you were no chicken!