I was born April 16, 1919 at the family farm outside of Spring Grove,
Minnesota, one of eleven children born to Alfred C. Storlie & Lena
Lean Storlie. I attended Grades 1-8 at a rural schoolhouse which still
stands today. After the 8th Grade I went to work at the Spring Grove
Lumber Yard.
I was drafted in early 1942 and inducted at Caledonia, Minnesota. From there I went to Ft. Snelling at Minneapolis and on to Shepard Field
at Witchita Falls, Texas for a very brief basic training. On March 19, 1942, I boarded the USAT Mariposa at Angel Island in
San Francisco Bay and landed in Melbourne, Australia on April 8, 1942. From Melbourne I proceeded to Charters Towers - Queensland where I
joined the 13th Bombardment Squadron 3rd Bombardment Group and was
eventually assigned to a ground crew working on the squadron aircraft.