Alternate name(s):
Bill Walsh
Nickname:
Bill
Date of birth:
Thursday, 18 May 1911
Marital status:
single
Ethnicity/Nationality:
English
Profession:
pipe fitter
Hometown(s):
Toronto, Ontario; London, England
Date of immigration to Canada:
Monday, 8 April 1912
Political affiliation:
Young Communist League; Communist Party of Canada, 1937
Approximate date arrived in Spain:
1937-04-07
Unit:
Abraham Lincoln Battalion, Company 1; one of forty Canadians transferred into the Lincolns on June 5, 1937; Rank Sargento, as of July 28, 1938; Served at Brunete (July 6-11, 1937), Quinto, Belchite, Fuentes de Ebro (August 24 to November 21, 1937) and Ebro Offensive (July 25 to August 1, 1938); Rank Cabo on July 10, 1937; Sargento on July 28, 1938
Final status:
WIA 6 July 1937 at Brunete; WIA 1 August 1938 at Ebro, hit in left foot and right arm; Possibly WIA at Belchite also; Sick 26 February 1938; Hospitalized in Villa Franca 18 days, Barcelona 8 days, Santa Coloma 57 days and Mataro 18 days; Survived; Returned to Canada 3 February 1939 on the Duchess of Richmond
Other:
According to Ed Cecil-Smith's unfinished history of the Mac-Paps, Walsh was friends and coworkers with volunteer Tom McDonald and encouraged him to travel to Spain
Sources:
RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 575, ll. 4-6; (545 6 537); RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 51, ll. 134 (Transfer to Lincolns); Momryk; Petrou; Ancestry
