In the wars against fascism Dad survived Spain and the battle for Okinawa. So many others didn't.

Memorial Day, 2024.

My Dad, Robert Klonsky, fought in and survived two wars.

He volunteered to fight in the first one in Spain and then was drafted into the army in World War II.

He was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade which fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War.

Six years after Spain he was in uniform again in an American tank battalion. He fought on Okinawa, considered the bloodiest battle - and some historians argue militarily unnecessary - of the Pacific theater.

Memorial Day is intended to honor the war dead.

History has seen far too many war dead.

Dad came home alive from Spain and the Pacific.

But not without the scars of war.

Half of the 3,000 American volunteers to Spain did not come home at all.

The dead don’t get to tell their stories.

My Dad left us letters he wrote home from the Spanish front.

Dearest Mama, Papa and family,

It is very difficult for me to express all that I feel. I can only say that I’m working very hard. There is much to be done. Tell Eileen that I would just love to hold her in my arms for just 5 minutes, and her uncle would be very happy.

Mama and Papa, if letters don’t come for long periods of time, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean I don’t think of you, or the anything is wrong. I’m in perfect safety. Tell Mac that I met Moish and Danny about one week ago - they passed through this place. I hope Sylvia and Dave are enjoying married life. Tell them I expect another nephew to be one the way when I get home, and I believe it will be sooner than expected.

This past Friday was my 19th birthday and I was proud! I’m one of the youngest men up here excluding the Spanish boys themselves. One feels very old when one sees children 14 and 15 years old going to the front lines to fight. And one feels very proud to be part of it all. I can’t find the words suitable to describe the country! Acres and acres of olive groves and orange groves cover the country. Spain is so rich!

But the people, the poor Spanish people. One wonders what has kept the workers and peasants in ignorance and subjugation until now. The worst slum sections of New York are a paradise compared to the living conditions of the working people here.

But these things are coming to an end. They have begun to realize that the labor and sweat that they have put into the soil and the factories entitle them to the right of self-rule and the right to profit from their labor.

At the present time they are fighting and laying down their lives so that the generations to come will have that right, in a free, happy and rich Spain.

(A special not to Mac)

Say, Mac. Just a reminder. I think it’s about time you started getting our brother Abe interested in the movement - don’t you think so? (How about it Abie?) Keep up the Klonsky tradition. I expect to find him at least a section organizer when I get back.

I am confident that the government forces, will in a short time, be able to completely crush the gangsters and mercenaries that compose the fascist forces. And it certainly seems that way after the victories that have been won in the past few weeks, in particular the decisive victory on the Guadalajara front.

And so, for all you know, in a few months, I’ll be back home with you celebrating victory together.

So, sit tight and bet on the horse marked Lincoln Battalion.

Your son and brother,

Bob