Wesley Rudolph Hillstrom served as a U.S. Army 81mm. mortar platoon Sergeant in the 96th Division’s (The Deadeyes) 382nd Regiment, H Company, Third Platoon.
He was born in the northern Michigan town of Hancock on March 30, 1914 and grew up in Salo, a Finnish farming commuity on the outskirts of that town. He was an excellent student and an amateur musician, who enjoyed listening to classical music. At the age of 13, he won a county-wide scholastic contest that included his meeting the Governor of Michigan. During the Great Depression, Wesley's father and his older brother traveled long distances to find work to provide for the family. This left Wesley, as the oldest sibling, to run the farm. Later during the Depression, he also found such work as digging ditches and playing an accordion on a vaudeville circuit with his brother Wendell.
Having an excellent mechanical aptitude, he became a gear tester at a manufacturing plant in Detroit, Michigan. Very adept at this work, he would take scrapped gears and work to put them in running order during his lunch period, to occupy his time. He chose not to apply for a deferment from military service.
Shortly after he was established in a well-paying job and married, he was called to serve his country.His favorite poem was "Invictus," by William Ernest Henley. To him, that poem illustrated true courage. During his youth he lived that poem: it was his creed. That poem served him well in combat and was instrumental in his developing faith in a Higher Power.
For a while, he pursued mechanical engineering studies on the GI Bill. But, he wasn't able to seriously pursue his studies, being relatively fresh out of combat. He suffered some hearing loss and developed tinnitus. He also suffered from PTSD, after five and a half months of battlefield combat. |
