Jack honoured for civil war efforts

Jack Edwards was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice when he went ot fight against Franco’s fascist troops.

Jack Edwards’ jersey is emblazoned with the logo Morning Star. He’s wearing it casually, demonstrating his support for the only English-language socialist daily newspaper in the world. His support for the socialist movement stretches back for all of his 95 years. “I was born a socialist,” he laughs. “Politics has always been my passion.”

Jack is at home in Regent Street, Wellington. He’s lived here for 25 years, in a single-storey bungalow with a lovingly-tended rear garden. For the 40 years before that, he lived in Trench. Prior to that, home was Gornal, near Dudley. He moved his family there in the late 1950s, leaving his native Liverpool for good.

Today has been a good day for Jack. His story has been splashed across an entire page in The Times newspaper and he’s been accepting calls from the BBC and other news agencies. “Suddenly I’m popular,” he says. “I don’t mind, I could talk all day.”

Jack is big news because he’s just been granted honourary Spanish citizenship, more than 70 years after his participation in the Spanish Civil War. He fought against Franco’s fascist troops back in 1936/1939, after reading about their advance in one of his beloved socialist newspapers.

“I was back in Liverpool when I was 22,” he says. “I was selling copies of the Daily Worker and I read all about it. I decided there and then that I had to go. I didn’t think twice about my safety. I just got up and went.”

Jack took a bus from Liverpool to London and made the onward journey to the coast. He caught a ferry across the Channel and soon after arrived in Paris. “It was just buses and trains in those days,” he says.

“It took us a long time to get there.” He moved through to Perpignan, in south west France, before continuing to Figueres, in the north east corner of Catalonia. From there, he travelled to Madrigueras, where he joined others willing to sacrifice their lives to prevent the advance of facism.

“We were given some training,” Jack remembers. “But not much. We had a few weeks to learn what to do. We were taught how to fire a machine gun. It was a 1905 version, so it was very slow. It was fixed on a brass tripod and you had to load the ammunition into a canvas belt.”

Jack’s unit moved to the Jarama Valley in February 1937 to help stop rebel, facist forces from cutting off a road that linked Madrid with Valencia.

“I had the gun and was firing it, waiting for the fascists. When they started coming over we shot at them.”

After two days’ action, Jack’s friend, soldier Jackman, was shot and killed. “He was a fellow Liverpudlian,” he says. “I’d never met him until we got to Spain, but I had a lot to do with his family afterwards. You just had to accept things like that. It came as a shock, obviously, but you have to deal with it pretty quickly.

“On another occasion, a bomb came in. I saw soldiers being blown to bits. One of the lads got very sick, he couldn’t handle it. But that was part and parcel of what we were doing. When you’re in those situations and when you’re that age, you think you’re invincible. You think you won’t be hurt. But, of course, you can be. Jackman could just have easily have been me.”

The next day, Jack himself was hit. A bullet tore through the flesh of his right leg and he was sent away on a blue-coloured hospital train. “

After making a recovery, he continued to assist in a behind-the-scenes role, helping with transport and logistics, before leaving Spain in 1939.

He later signed up for the RAF to right in World War II. “I remember being opposed to the anti-war movement. The Second World War was about beating facism, it was like a continuation of the Spanish Civil War. So I thought that the war was just. Facism had to be defeated.”

Jack eventually left the RAF on April 29 1946, the day that his daughter, Margaret was born. Margaret, now Dr Margaret Sampson, 63, was among three children born to Jack and his wife Ivy; the others being Colin, 61, and Pete, 67, both now retired primary school headteachers. Ivy died five years ago and Jack still lives in the Wellington bungalow that proved to be such a happy home.

“I’ve always been involved in politics,” Jack says. “I went to Cuba two weeks ago. It was my second visit, I’d also been there last year. It’s a fairer society than the one we live in. People do things for their neighbours, they help and take an interest. It’s not the same here, we’ve become too self-centred. People are just interested in themselves.”

Jack served for many years on the Telford & District Trades Council. He marched to London in support of plans for the Princess Royal Hospital and took part in many other local campaigns on behalf of workers.

“I think some things have improved during my lifetime,” he says. “People work fewer hours and in safer conditions. But I’m concerned about the recession. Lots of local people have lost their jobs and they’re out, no back up, on £60-odd pounds of benefits.”

Age has barely slowed Jack. He still cooks all of his own food, even baking his own bread. “I like to look after myself,” he says. His mind is as sharp as a tack and he can’t wait to travel to the Spanish Embassy on June 9 to receive Spanish Citizenship. He’ll be one of seven British men to receive the honour.

“I’m proud,” he says. Then a smile forms and he cracks a joke. “But, come on, after 70 years, it’s about blooming time.”