Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-02-19

- registered for
Mr.. PICKERING service in this
country" he said, but if they
would send me TO Africa, I
would enlist today"
He went through the war in
Spain and left Madrid only nine
months ago.
/ asked him how the opposing
factions in Spain regarded each
other-granting that il would be
hard TO give an exact answer,
just as il is still impossible TO
describe just how the North and
South regarded each other after
our own Civil War in 1860.
True enOugh-he couldn't give
an exact answer, but said that
one thing was certain. Span
tards are Spaniards regardless
Of disputes among themselves.
and they have certain things in
common.
\ No Spaniard has any stomach
J for dictatorship, he says, and
this applies 90 the victorious
Franco forces as well as 10 the
defeated lOyalists. He was 10y
alist.
Some combina ton of repub-
hcan monarchy, on the order of
Engiand's government. Is what
the average SpaDiard wants,
says Ia Blanca.
The interviewer threads Of
Spanish politics still leave such
n complicated pattern that an
outsider hardly has chance OF
understanding II. 40 We skipped
politics completely.
His bitterness is directe d
against the foreign countries
which used Spain as a testing
ground for war-'like a-what
do you call il in English? Yes.
Spain was A guinea pig for war.
We were an experiment for war.
If they had stayed out, tho war
would have been over in three
months"
Behind the loyaliSt lines were
Franco sympathiZers (the orig
inAi Fifth cofun1n } and behind
the rebel lines were loyalistS.
You never knew" he says,
whether the man upstairs or
next door was really on your
side. In the beginning you tore
off your collar and tie. II wasn't
very safe 10 look like somebody
who might be a Fascist"
But beneath il all lay the fact
that all were Spaniards. The
loyahsts shut the churches. and
the rebels. facing them across
no-man's land. would ring their
church bells 10 annoy the 10y
allStS.
And when they were not as
= Siduousiy killing each other.
they found time for strange
hut enjoyable cOmradeshlp. en-
envy WIN enemy.
I'VE exchanged newspapers
and cigarets; sang To each other:
traded food sOmetimes." SAYS La
Blanca. with n PARKWAY look. re-
memberlng the backgrounds Of
Madrid and Teruel.
Outside M dri d. Frances
well-fed troops would taunt the
loyalists with: Were having
ham for supper tonight, and you
you've got nothing but Sar-
dimes" The tauntS, says La
Blanca, would be followed BY a
flag of truce. and rebel would
come out with a slice OF ham TO
prove that they had il. A 10y
aliSt would carry il back 10 his
lines, and the loyalists would
eat it.
On the stabilized front be-
tween Aragon and Catalonia. he
says. II reached a point al which
the opposing armies would send
out TO OF b all teams TO play
matches.
And in the University City
sector, La Blanca remembers
when they sang. Somewhere
from the rebel lines came the
voice OF Spaniard singing a
minor-key Flamenco song.
"One Of our men," says La
Blanca, recognized the voice.
IL was his brother singing. We
had TO hold him down To keep
him from running out TO see his
brother. Because, of course, he
would have been shot down.
"He never saw his brother. He
was killed sometime later"
That Is Spain. As La Blanca
lays, "When the king left, every
|ody cried-and yet, they put
aim out"
For Spain Is a living contra
diction, although for that mat
ter so is the rest of mankind.
The war was horrible. Peace
Is beautiful. La Blanca knows
il. And yet.'there is fun. in
war. too. 1 was glad when it
ended, but you know. ir'S boring
when it's over"
Guillermo La Blanca is a good
dancer.
But 1 guess he's a born sol
H.