Alvin Russo was born in December 1924 in Buffalo, New York. He was an only child. His father was a pharmacist. His father’s drugstore went bankrupt during the depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. His father ended up getting a liquor license and opening a liquor store. His mother was a secretary before she got married. Russo grew up in the city. Russo had a morning paper route. In the wintertime, his mother would drive him around to deliver the papers. He was 16 years old when he graduated from high school. He started college at the University of Buffalo [Annotator’s Note: in Buffalo, New York] when he was 16 years old. He joined the Army when he was 18 years old. He hitchhiked from Buffalo to Los Angeles [Annotator’s Note: Los Angeles, California]. Russo was on a train when he heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He wanted to be a medical doctor. While he was in college he spent more time in the student union than he did studying.

Alvin Russo went through basic training near Baton Rouge [Annotator’s Note: Baton Rouge, Louisiana]. When he joined, they had started the ASTP [Annotator's Note: Army Specialized Training Program, generally referred to just by the initials ASTP; a program designed to educate massive numbers of soldiers in technical fields such as engineering and foreign languages and to commission those individuals at a fairly rapid pace in order to fill the need for skilled junior officers]. Russo went to LSU [Annotator’s Note: Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana] for the ASTP program. From there, he went to the University of Iowa for pre-med. He was accepted to medical school at the University of Kansas [Annotator's Note: in Lawrence, Kansas]. Before he went to medical school he went to Denver [Annotator’s Note: Denver, Colorado] and worked as a corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps]. He was in the second semester of his first year of medical school when he was discharged from the Army. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to finish school. He finished his medical degree. He did not want to stay in the Army. After he finished medical school, he went into the Air Force. He was in the Army for three years. He was in Denver when the war ended.

Alvin Russo was the head of OB-GYN [Annotator’s Note: obstetrician and gynecology] at Norton Air Force Base [Annotator’s Note: in San Bernardino, California] during the Korean War [Annotator’s Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953]. When Russo joined the Army, he was sent to Pennsylvania. After medical school, his parents wanted him to return to Buffalo, New York. He was a doctor during the Korean War. Russo held the rank of captain after six months of service. He moved around a lot during his time in the service. When he arrived at Norton he had hardly any experience. When he became head of the department he really enjoyed it. After he got out of the service he returned to Buffalo. He interned in Buffalo for OB-GYN at the county hospital. He had great training. Russo had a good consulting doctor. He ended up taking over that doctor’s practice.

Alvin Russo was 62 years old when he retired. During World War 2 he was in the Army. During the Korean War [Annotator’s Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953] he was called back in and joined the Air Force. His military career was limited. He was in the military for five years and cannot remember firing a weapon. He would not want to go through the war again. He wanted to succeed and do something he enjoyed. When he left the Air Force, he practiced medicine in the same town he was stationed in. He became friends with the other physicians in the town before he was discharged. He liked working in OB-GYN [Annotator’s Note: obstetrician and gynecology]. He was separated from the Army during his second semester in medical school. He met his wife during his first day of residency as an OB-GYN. She had just gotten her cap as an RN [Annotator’s Note: Registered Nurse]. They had eight children.