A Former German Soldier Who Helped Build America's Arsenal of Democracy in WWII

On this episode of Our American Stories, Robert Frohlich, a regular contributor to the show, shares the remarkable story of his grandfather—a German-born immigrant who once handled warhorses as a World War I conscript and later helped build America’s "Arsenal of Democracy" during World War II.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories.
And we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them our American Stories dot com.
There's some of our favorites. Up next, a story from
Robert Frolick. Robert is the author of Aimless Life, Awesome
God and a regular contributor to this show. Today Robert

(00:32):
shares with us the story of a man who impacted
him profoundly. Take it away, Robert.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
In World War One, will Helm Bistner was in the
German Army. His assignment was to care for the horses
that pulled the cannons to fight against the Russians during
a gas stack. In that war, will Helm suffered the
loss of a sense of smell. After the war, he
was awarded a small dis ability annuity for his injury.

(01:03):
The monthly payments continued until he died in Florida in
nineteen seventy seven. Bill Helm was born in eighteen ninety two,
the son of a tavern owner in Berlin, Germany. He
learned his trade as a tool and die maker and

(01:24):
married Elsbeth Schultz in nineteen twenty seven. They came by
ship to America with their daughter Ursula Wilhelm Bissner became
William Burtner. His German friends called him Willie, and everybody
else called him Bill. When he first came to the
United States, Bill worked as a mason's helper while he

(01:47):
learned the English language. Then he went to work in
his trade. Long Island, New York was a hotbed in
the early days of aviation, and he saw it all.
He knew many of the pioneers in that field. He
worked for Severski and for Sikorski, the early developers of
the helicopter. He also worked for Republic Aircraft and chance

(02:12):
Vought Aircraft. In nineteen thirty three, Bill went to work
for Edo Aircraft in College Point, New York. Bill was
involved in the design and fabrication of floats for various aircraft,
including some for Charles Lindbergh and Admiral burg I. Remember

(02:33):
he had two model airplanes proudly displayed on the mantle
in his College Point home. One was a solid aluminum
model of Lindbergh's plane, the Spirit of Saint Louis, and
the other was a Chance Vaught f for U, the
iconic gold winged Navy warplane. World War Two created a

(02:59):
U huge demand for military aircraft floats. As assistant Division Superintendent,
Bill headed up a fabrication shop. According to one College
point residence, he hired quote every German toolmaker and machinist
he could find, including my father's, and as a result

(03:20):
put food on a table from my family unquote. Bill
put all his skills to work, revamping tool designs and
manufacturing processes to make the production faster and more safe.
In nineteen forty three, he won a National Safety Ace
Award for one of his designs. After the war, Bill

(03:46):
retired to his one hundred acre retreat in the Catskill
Mountains of upstate New York, living in a house he
had built himself. He and Elsbeth took me with them
in nineteen forty seven. He had a small machine shop
there and planned to do some contract work from time
to time. That only lasted a year. They moved back

(04:09):
to the city, gave me back to my mother, and
Bill started work at Sperry Gyroscope Corporation. The company manufactured
guidance systems for ships, aircraft, and missiles. Bill always took
great pride in his work, immersing himself in the tiny

(04:32):
details of his craft, and he loved the shaping of
hard steel or soft aluminum into useful objects. Once he
showed me a rectangular aluminum box about one and a
half inches wide and high and about two inches long.
It had a hinged lid. At Sperry, Bill had designed

(04:52):
the tool that made this box, which was an electrical
junction box for the instrument panel of the Bowling seven
oh seven aircraft. He explained to me the intricacies of
bending allowances and the tiny tolerances that went into this
simple object. Bill retired again in nineteen sixty one, but

(05:14):
when I returned home for military service in nineteen sixty four,
I found him working every day in a small local
machine shop, still making tools to shape metal to his will.
Bill's German born love for precision and order carried over

(05:37):
to his off duty life. He owned just three cars
during my lifetime, all plymouths A nineteen forty one, A
nineteen fifty five, in a nineteen sixty eight. They were
all base models with manual transmissions, and, apart from a radio,
no amenities. Every Saturday Bill would check under the hood.

(06:01):
Reflecting on my grandfather's life, it amazes me the advances
he was part of. Young Wilhelm taking care of horses
in the muddy battlefields of World War One. Bill the
tool and die maker acquainted with the pioneers and aviation,
Bill the Superintendent, helping to win World War Two by

(06:21):
making water landings possible for military aircraft, and Bill the
tool maker seeing parts he helped create, flying high in
the sky and even into space. Bill Burtoner loved this
country and he made the most of the opportunities that
gave him. And he returned the favor by giving his

(06:42):
best to America. He never lost that German love for
precision and ordnum, nor did that distinctly German accent ever
leave him. He was my grandpa and I loved him.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
And what a gem we just heard. I mean, what
a time to have grown up. I mean from horses
to flight. And there he is, right in the middle
of flight, using his God given skills to help America
defeat the Nazi menace our arsenal democracy. Folks, we couldn't
have done it without it, and men like Bill on

(07:18):
the front lines. William Bergner's life story is told by
his grandson Robert Frolich. Here on our American story, folks.
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(07:39):
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