Thomas
Watters, the last surviving Scot who volunteered to fight in the
Spanish Civil War, 1936/39 has died aged 99. Thomas had settled in
Hertfordshire but was originally from Glasgow. In 1936 he was driving
a Glasgow Corporation bus for a living when he decided along with
approximately 500 other Scots to join the International Brigade to
fight the fascist Franco's army. While in Spain he was a member of
Scottish Ambulance Unit. In June 2009 at a ceremony in the Spanish
Embassy in London he was honoured with an honorary Spanish
citizenship. In 2010 he returned to Glasgow to give a speech at the
rededication ceremony of the newly restored statue “Pasionaria”
which stands on the north side of the River Clyde in Glasgow's city
centre to commemorate the Spanish Civil War and the part played by
the citizens of Glasgow.
It
is always sad to lose the last living link with any courageous
working class event, and the volunteers from Scotland, and other
parts of the world, who went to fight fascism in Spain were taking
part in what can only be described as a courageous sacrifice for
freedom for others, not just for themselves. We, the working class, should always
remember our history, or we become a people without a history and
without a culture.
