back into the earth. There will be a time, maybe, in the his» tory of liberty and democracy, when no Canadian will have a more honored place than these Canadians who have gone to the help.of strange but brave people «most unjustly and savagely assailed. I

“In their consciousness of their fellowship with the patriots of ‘S7, these Canadians have called themselves the Mackenzie~Papineau Battalion of the International Brigade, and most rightly a society calling itself the Friends of the Mac- kenzie/Papineau Battalion has been formed in Toronto to do what can be done for the comfort of these.” ‘

This tribute was written upon the occasion of a mass 3 meeting held in Toronto to commemorate the death of eight ‘Canadian boys who had died in Spain. Since then that eight l has grown to nearly fifty, and the five hundred has grown to 4

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1,000 Canadians in Spain.

A. E. J Smith has written a graphic narrative of his visit to Spain whichcompletes this pamphlet and it is difficult for me to know what to offer in an introduction.

Ihave seen the boys in the line, under fire, in the hospi» tals; I have talked with them and have learned to know them.

Some of them went through indescribable difficulties‘ to come to Spain. Hiking over the Pyrenees by way of treacher~ ous paths to draw the comment from one of them, “Mountains.-. cannot stop us.”

They used to tell me to make sure that when I wrote I would not depict them as heroes, that I would make sure to show the horror of war, what it did to people, how insane it was, and they wanted me to tell the people back home why they came here and why even mountains could n-ot stop them.

I happened to be present in a dugout when the boys first thought of the name for their battalion. Many names were suggested. There were heated discussions. One of them beckv oned for silence and said, “If we know why we are here, if we know that fighting,for democracy, really fighting for de’

mocracy, is only carrying on the traditions of our country and

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