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The Last Brigadista
Jan. 26th, 2012 12:23 pmFrom today's Glib & Stale:
Spain grants citizenship to Canadian veteran of the Spanish Civil War
adrian morrow
AURORA, ONT.— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 8:02PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 8:19PM EST
On a spring day in the hills near Valencia, Jules Paivio stood before a firing squad.
The young Canadian was a long way from home, the woods of Northern Ontario, but he was ready to meet death. He had known when he volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War, in the fall of 1936, that he probably wouldn’t return alive.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, Mr. Paivio and several fellow prisoners raised their fists in a show of defiance. But a sudden stroke of luck saved his life. In fact, Mr. Paivio came out of the war unscathed. Today, he is the last surviving Canadian brigadista – one of the men and women who came from around the world to defend Spain’s fledgling republic from the fascism of General Francisco Franco.
( Read more... )
On Remembrance Day last year, after the main ceremony I took Aki to the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion memorial near the Legislature. This was put up in 2000, the second one in the country.
In my reading about the Mac-Paps, I noted how many of them were of Finnish extraction, and how many came from British Columbia.
Anyway, after this last honour for the last Canadian brigadista, bestowed by a foreign government at that, I wouldn't look for much more recognition or remembrance from our own.
Spain grants citizenship to Canadian veteran of the Spanish Civil War
adrian morrow
AURORA, ONT.— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 8:02PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 8:19PM EST
On a spring day in the hills near Valencia, Jules Paivio stood before a firing squad.
The young Canadian was a long way from home, the woods of Northern Ontario, but he was ready to meet death. He had known when he volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War, in the fall of 1936, that he probably wouldn’t return alive.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, Mr. Paivio and several fellow prisoners raised their fists in a show of defiance. But a sudden stroke of luck saved his life. In fact, Mr. Paivio came out of the war unscathed. Today, he is the last surviving Canadian brigadista – one of the men and women who came from around the world to defend Spain’s fledgling republic from the fascism of General Francisco Franco.
( Read more... )
On Remembrance Day last year, after the main ceremony I took Aki to the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion memorial near the Legislature. This was put up in 2000, the second one in the country.
In my reading about the Mac-Paps, I noted how many of them were of Finnish extraction, and how many came from British Columbia.
Anyway, after this last honour for the last Canadian brigadista, bestowed by a foreign government at that, I wouldn't look for much more recognition or remembrance from our own.
