Harold Smith served as a volunteer with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. He was born in New York City on January 4, in either 1910 or 1912 (a later record differs, but a copy of his passport record lists him as aged 27 in 1937). He attended City College, joined the Communist Party in 1934, and worked as a trade-union organizer. He listed his occupation as "clerk" in 1937. He sailed to Europe in February 1937 and, after a stop-over in Paris, arrived in Spain in mid-March. His letters home reflect an eager interest in the political deveopment of his friends and fellow Branch members, and in his union. Smith was wounded twice in combat. After suffering an arm wound he spent time in the Hospital Militar-Moya in Barcelona, where one of his nurses was U.S. volunteer Toby Jensky. He recovered sufficiently to fight in the Ebro action around Villalba, and returned to the U.S. on the SS Ausonia in December 1938. After the war, Smith became a member of the Board of Governors of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB) and taught for a while at the League for Seriously Disturbed Children. He died in 1970.
From the guide to the Harold Smith Papers, undated, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)
Biographical/Historical Note
Chicago Tribune reporter on Leyte, Philippines.
From the guide to the Harold Smith sound recording, 1944, (Hoover Institution Archives)