Ross, Adolph.

Adolph Ross was born in New York City. The son of a Polish-English mother and an Austrian-born father, Ross spent his infancy in a Knights of Pythias orphanage, later acquiring the surname Ross from his mother’s second husband.

Ross became involved in politics at a young age, joining the Young Communist League and the National Student League while still in high school. In 1937 Ross volunteered for service in the Spanish Civil War, but was not granted permission until 1938, when he obtained a Spanish visa and traveled under the pseudonym Adolfo Rodriguez. In Spain he fought in the Ebro Campaign and in August 1938 was severely wounded while fighting in the Sierra Pandols. He returned to New York on December 31, 1938.

...