Valto Edward Aaltio

Born in Keuruu, Finland, on January 22, 1891, he later became known as an American Finnish writer and also wrote under the pen names Eetu Antelo and Valto Eetu Kirri. After attending school in Jyväskylä, he left for sea in 1911 and reached Australia in 1912, where he worked as a shepherd and gold prospector before sailing on to San Francisco.

His life in North America was just as varied. He worked as a sailor, miner, assistant to a Finnish doctor, and massage therapist, and he also trained in therapeutic exercise and massage. In 1918 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and fought on the Western Front in France during World War I, later serving with occupation forces in Germany.

Those experiences shaped his writing. His novel Lännestä länsirintamalle (1931) has been described as the only account of Western Front combat written by a Finn who fought on the Allied side, and he later published Amerikan vieras (1945), a book about Finnish immigrants in America. He died in San Francisco on January 30, 1946.