Author Archive for Chris Brooks

Under Mosquito Crest by Volunteer Staff

October 26, 2018
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Under Mosquito Crest by Volunteer Staff

          The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 3,  January 29, 1938 A ghost story of the war has come our way. Readers may interpret it as they please; the comrade who tells it offers no explanation, nor shall we. Here it is. . Comrade C. went into the Brunete offensive...
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Sam by A. C. B. [Alvah Cecil Bessie]

October 19, 2018
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Sam by A. C. B. [Alvah Cecil Bessie]

                          The Volunteer for Liberty, V.2, No. 31, September 5, 1938. The kid looks and acts about eighteen but when you ask him how old he is he says he’s 23. “”so you’re 23 are you?” said...
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Getting Worried by unattributed

October 12, 2018
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Getting Worried by unattributed

                            The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 31, September 5, 1938. The Company Commissar was harassed. The boys had been beefing; the grub line was snarled up and sounded like the Chicago stockyards in a thunderstorm. Up walks Comrade S… Said...
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Remember This by William P. Smith, Jr., Lincoln Battalion

October 4, 2018
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Remember This by William P. Smith, Jr., Lincoln Battalion

                    Remember This, William P. Smith, Jr., Lincoln Battalion The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 1, No. 9, August 9, 1937   REMEMBER THIS I’ve heard you sobbing in the night And know your fears are not for fright But for the dead. Those Comrades lost...
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The Trek That Led to Spain by J. McGrandle

September 28, 2018
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The Trek That Led to Spain by J. McGrandle

The Volunteer for Liberty, V2, No. 25, July 19, 1938                         This anniversary wouldn’t seem complete to me without some mention of the “Vancouver Stiffs” who are fighting side by side with the rest of the International against fascism. It isn’t strange when...
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Lt. Cooper’s Haul by S. F.

September 21, 2018
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Lt. Cooper’s Haul by S. F.

The Volunteer for Liberty, V.2, No. 30, August 26, 1938 The special Brigade machine gun company came up to reinforce the 58th Battalion on July 28th. Saully Wellman its commissar had already been forced out of action by a shrapnel wound; and when on his very first day with the Lincolns the commander Capt....
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Far from Baghdad, Two Iraqi Volunteers in the XVth International Brigade

September 15, 2018
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Far from Baghdad, Two Iraqi Volunteers in the XVth International Brigade

  Information about the Iraqi volunteers was brought to light in the memoir of Flint water crisis whistleblower Mona Hanna-Attisha in her new book What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City (Random House 2018). She devotes a number of pages to the Iraqi volunteers, especially to her...
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Finding My Father by Shirley J. Vail

September 10, 2018
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Finding My Father by Shirley J. Vail

At the age of 70, I gathered my courage and learned how to use the Internet.  The first thing I wanted to do was find out anything I could about my father, Earl Frederick Vail.  I began with Ancestry.com.  Setting out on a journey that would take me I knew not where. I was...
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Snowman in Madrid, by M. Mickenberg

September 2, 2018
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Snowman in Madrid, by M. Mickenberg

The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, No. 3, January 29, 1938                                     SNOWMAN IN MADRID Franco, Franco, Generalissimo, The little kids are making you Of effigies in snow.   Of you, Franco, Generalissimo! They’re making you and...
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On Beards –A Reply by M. H.

August 26, 2018
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On Beards –A Reply by M. H.

On Beards –A Reply, By M. H. The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, No. 2, January 13, 1938 In a recent issue of “The Volunteer for Liberty” we find a scholarly article deriding the many beard wearers in the International Brigades. A very astute and interesting article –to the beardless. But to the man...
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