Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 1/6/2012 (1904 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
I was glad to see the interesting column by Terrence Rundle West, All dead but one (May 30). After so many years, at least one person cares enough to pay tribute to the members of the Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion who volunteered to fight the fascists and Nazis in Spain's civil war.
In 1950, I had the rare opportunity to meet one of the survivors in Santiago, Chile. I did not know much about what happened to this battalion that was defending democracy for western society.
CP
A demonstrator holds a red carnation during a protest outside the Supreme Court with a banner showing photos of some of the Spanish civil war victims on the last day of judge Baltasar Garzon's trial in Madrid Wednesday Feb. 8, 2012. The Spanish judge who became an international human rights hero is on trial for knowingly overstepping the bounds of his jurisdiction with his unprecedented albeit abortive probe of crimes committed by the Franco side. Both sides in the Spanish war _ the Republican side and Franco's rebel rightwing forces _ committed atrocities. But they were addressed by a post-Franco-era amnesty approved by Parliament. Republican atrocities against pro-Franco civilians had already been thoroughly documented by the regime. (AP Photo/Paul White)
He told me that he decided to find peace and a new home in Chile because his Canadian government treated him as a "traitor and communist," although he was a devoted Catholic from Quebec.
He said he was unable to get a job or security as a veteran. How ironic it is that these brave volunteers were unwelcome in Canada after risking their lives for the survival of the British Empire, which was almost defeated by the mighty German military power. At least one writer is willing to give them their due.
FRANCISCO VALENZUELA
Winnipeg
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