Stanley Alukonis

by R. Rodgers

    When does dairy farmer equal audacious soldier?  When you take a spirited young man born in Hudson and you send him to war to do great things.  Stanley Alukonis fits the bill with some to spare.  As a member of the 305th Bomb Group in World War II he set his place in history by being part of what is called one of the greatest air battles in WWII.  On October 14, 1943 on a mission to bomb Schweinfurt, Germany, one of the biggest missions ever planned to that date, Alukonis and his crew were shot down over Germany at approximately 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon.  They were forced to bail out due to two engines out and a fire in the left wing at 22,000 feet.  This is a long way from the terrified toddler who crouched under his kitchen table while his dad talked with the Police Chief about a mischievous day. 

    The railroad went right past the Granite State Dairy on Central Street in the early 1920’s causing curiosity to bloom in young Alukonis’ head.  On one particular day he thought he could crush rocks if the train went over them on the track.  So, knowing the train would come by soon he did just that.  Instead of the steam engine going by first, a couple of railroad maintenance men on a gas powered cart came by, the stones caused the cart to derail and possibly injured the men while Stan was hiding behind a stone wall nearby.  After dinner that night Chief Harry Connell paid a visit to the farm to have a chat with Mr. Alukonis.  When the police chief went into the house, Stan quickly hid under the kitchen table.  The chief decided to sit at the table placing his big black boots inches in front of Stan’s face, discussing the severe penalties if and when the person responsible for this act was apprehended.  “This incident is just as vivid in my mind today as it was when it happened” Stan said.  Stanley’s parents bought 20 acres of property in 1915 and set up a small dairy operation of 30 cows with chickens and other livestock.  His parents raised their three boys and one daughter on this property.  “My father was born right here in what is now our dining room, on March 6, 1918” said Stanley’s only son David.  The family house has changed a lot since that time and Dave now lives there with his family.

    Alukonis attended school here in Hudson until high school.  When in the seventh grade at Webster School, now the Superintendent’s building on Library Street, fire broke out and the whole school evacuated.  Once outside they could see that the fire was no false alarm.  Stan being big for his age and always a hell raiser was asked by Mrs. Goodspeed his 7th grade teacher, to retrieve student records which were in her desk.  He ran into the burning building, obtained the records, grabbed the flag and ran out.  The fire damaged the building but did not destroy it.  There was a bell in the tower that fell right down through the whole building into the cellar.  The bell was destroyed and it is said that pieces of it were taken by various townspeople as souvenirs.  He went on to attend high school at the Spring Street School in Nashua. 

    The 1935 graduate went right to work for the Civil Conservation Corps (CCC).  Dubbed Roosevelt’s Tree Army the CCC throughout the country was credited with planting nearly three billion trees from 1933 to 1942.  The Corps was charged with the task of building campgrounds and the like in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Young Alukonis, ready to work, was given the task of driving one of two trucks for the Corps, “There were several hundred workers there and I was assigned to drive a truck.  It was unbelievable to get to drive the brand new Chevy State truck at age 17, and in the winter!”  His pay was $21.00 a month and they slept in army style barracks.  He worked with them for a year and then returned to Hudson to find work closer to home. 

    On April 1, 1941, 11 months prior to Pearl Harbor Stanley was drafted into the Army.  But that April Fools day was no joke and he began the rigorous training of an infantry man.  Stanley, still the adventurer, decided to take exams to enter the Army Air Corps for pilot training in April of 1942.  He was sent to Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas preflight school in September 1942, and then on to primary flight training at Oklahoma City Air College, Cimmoran Field, Oklahoma and finished his advanced flight training in Altus, Oklahoma in 1943.  There he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant.  Then he was sent to B17 flying fortress training in Rapid City, South Dakota and then onto advanced B17 training in Spokane, Washington.  Upon completion he was put in charge of four crews and given the task of getting four B17s to England.  Each crew had ten members and they left for Grand Island, Nebraska to pick up combat gear and traveled to England via Rome, New York through Labrador, Canada and then to Iceland (Reykjavik) and finally onto England.  Once in England, he was assigned to the 305th Bomb Group.  On October 14, 1943 he participated in a mission which many historians consider the world’s greatest one-day air battle of World War II.  The entire crew was ordered to bail out after losing two engines and a left wing fire.  Eight crew members were taken prisoner and one was shot as he was parachuting.  Stan set down on the German – Holland border and avoided capture.  It wasn’t until 10:00 p.m. that he was able to positively orient himself in Puth, Holland, three miles from the German border.  He then began the long and sometimes tedious journey through Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and on to Gibraltor with complete cooperation of the underground network.  It wasn’t until January that he finally made it safely back to England ready to volunteer for more combat missions.  His request was denied, because if captured his knowledge of the underground could compromise that very important network.  For evading capture, he was given a commendation signed by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill. 

    His military service went on with several more assignments including the task of photographing all of South Korea below the 38th parallel prior to the Korean War.  He returned to the US in 1949 and was selected for further training to properly man the first operational jet bombers of the US Air Force.  Upon completion, he was assigned to the 303rd bomb group consisting of 27 B47 jet bombers capable of carrying 17,000 lb. Hydrogen bombs, located at Davis Monthon Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.  Early in 1959 he was assigned to International Electric Corporation, a subsidiary of ITT, to form the first computerized command and control system.  In 1961 he retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel. 

    Life at the diary farm went on and changed with the times while Alukonis was in the Air Force.  At the age of 33 the fast paced life of the flyer caught up with him and he decided it was time to get married.  On a brief leave he married Sophie Batura, a lifelong friend, 10 years his junior, also born in Hudson.  They tied the knot at St. Johns the Evangelist Church in Hudson on December 20, 1950 and promptly drove away in a brand new Buick convertible to where he was stationed.  He had a second house built on the property, now at 55 acres.  After his parents passed away, Stan made arrangement with his brother and sister to obtain the old homestead.  “I’ll turn in over to Dave and I hope he will give it to his son one day.”  Stanley was 43 when his only son was born in 1961, “I sent the doc a case of whiskey that day, said Stan, with pride for his son.  Ironically Dave and Michele’s son Seamus was born when Dave was in his early 40’s continuing the legacy of the Granite State Dairy on Central Street. 

    Once retired and settled into life back in Hudson, Stanley ran many businesses including a trailer sales business and several property management businesses.  He ran for the House of Representatives and held his seat in Concord for two terms.  He also ran against John Bednar for Selectmen in 1969 and was successful in unseating the long standing “town father.”  During his term as Selectmen they accomplished work on Robinson Pond and promoted improvements to Rt. 3.  Today he would like to see the Town become more business friendly and set a clear plan for our future.  “We need people with good vision to bring Hudson into the future,” stated Alukonis. 

    This mischievous toddler turned hell-raising teen to audacious soldier, husband, dad and town leader proves that home grown heroes still thrive right here in Hudson.  Have you met Stanley Alukonis