Black Rose

War Stories: Soldiers (2)

The Spic, who had been born in Spain, was the son of Spanish anarchists who had come to America in the 20s, went back in '36, & somehow managed to escape again to America by '40. He fought in the Spanish Republican Army until the fall of Spain, jumped over to France, & then back to the U.S. Just in time. With his U.S. citizenship thru his parents, he was drafted, and marked w/ an inadmissable notation in his Permanent Army Record:P.A.F. P.A.F. stood for "Premature Antifascist" & carried a Security Warning. This was intended to mark anyone who was known to have been anti-Fascist before Pearl Harbor, or @ the very earliest, The Battle of Britain. Anything earlier, passive or active, was considered Suspect. Un-American. The Spic was Spanish by act & deed; that was actively Un-American. in the 30s his brand of being Spanish was above & beyond the call of duty. Spellman, Cushing & Curley were the true American stand on Spain: pro-Franco, pro-Fascist: P.F.

Bill Costley

(This poem was printed in ASPECT/No. 71.)