and trying to grenade the Fascists out of it. Sergeant Louis Argitiz, a 
Greek-American, did a very fine job and was wounded by a hand-gre- 
nade in the gully. (After he came back from the hospital he took over 
command of the Machine Gun Company and was later killed at Fuen- 
tes de Ebro.) Mike Pappas, Adjutant, and Watts, both of the Machine 
Gun Company were among the most persistent grenade-throwers. Do- 
nald Henry, a medical student from Kansas, was killed when trying to 
bring up a stretcher for our wounded. 
Another fine fighter all that day was Jim Woulff from Limerick, Ire- 
land. He was killed by a grenade in the very last hour of the final
day’s fighting. 
*

The story of the house-to-house fighting in Belchite would not be 
complete without mentioning Captain Wattis of the Brigade Staff. He 
was with us at the Church, and coolly stood in the doorway and tackled 
two Fascist snipers, and beat them at their own game. Later, after he 
had cleaned out several houses, and collared a number of prisoners, he 
and Captain Lamb were lobbing grenades in a rear window at some 
Fascists. The Fascists replied in kind. A grenade burst at Wattis’ feet, 
causing fifty-three wounds, literally from the crown of his head to the 
soles of his feet. As he lay on the ground a bullet cut the peak of his 
cap! Yet, he got away, and is now back to duty. 
Ralph Thornton, a Negro volunteer from Pittsburgh was among the 
first to volunteer for the storming of the Church and later took a very 
prominent part in the street fighting. He, with Carl Geiser, Battalion 
Commissar (later wounded at Fuentes) and Ben Finley captured two 
Fascists in one of the houses in Belchite. 
When night came we couldn’t keep awake any longer. Many of us 
fell asleep right in the gully, unmindful of the Fascists. After fighting 
days and nights without sleep we were too groggy to care where we 
flopped down. Try as we would we couldn’t keep our eyes open any 
longer. 
S. F. 

272