Closure in family civil war mystery
A family mystery involving a Spanish Civil War hero has been solved 80 years on.
Mary Hassock spent more than 40 years trying to learn the fate of her brother John Ferguson, a Scot who served in the International Brigade.
She died in 1983, never knowing what happened. But her daughter Mary, granddaughter Sharon and two great-grandsons have visited the place John died.
The 46-year- old former miner, who survived the World War I trenches, signed up to fight Franco’s fascist forces in the 1930s.
Tomorrow is the 80th anniversary of Franco’s victory, which led to four decades of dictatorship.
Research by expat parttime war historian Ivan York revealed John died in a field hospital in a Catalan barn after taking shrapnel to the head in the Battle of Ebro.
John was one of two Brits among 300 Republican soldiers buried in a mass grave in El Perello in 1938, Ivan discovered.
He traced the family tree until he found Mary, 73, at home in Glasgow.
Sharon, 46, said: “When Ivan got in touch, my mum said she wanted to go to get closure for her gran.
“Gran always told stories about John. She adored him. I was only 10 when she died, but even all those years later she still spoke of her brother.
“John was a lot older than most comrades, and he’d fought in a war before. It was a brave thing to do.
“We went to the trenches and even now we found shrapnel. We also visited the hospital where John was treated. It was a barn, where they kept sheep and goats.
“Next to it was the graveyard. I got a chilling sensation being so close to where he’d fought and died.
“I’m proud he fought fascism. But 80 years on, it’s a shame people still have far-right views.”