Memorial Day hero: Salaria Kea

[Bucky]

Salaria Kea was a nurse assigned to the International Red Cross Hospital in the Spanish Civil War. Salaria volunteered to fight fascism there alongside the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, whom she patched up and nursed back to health on thousands of occasions.

She was wounded in action, captured once and had to escape from a fascist prison camp, and endure all the hardships of the men usually with fewer rations. Before the war she had organized military and medical relief missions for both Ethiopia and the Spanish Republican cause, all before the age of 20. After the war she returned to the United States and dedicated her life to fighting fascism, segregation, and other social ills.

She was only 19 years old when she volunteered to go fight in Spain. She was a pioneer for civil rights, women's equality, and popular freedom. you live in a free country and the Free World because of Heroes like Salaria Kea. She's an unsung hero of the Democratic Revolution that it started in 1776 and continues to today.

[potone]

1. Thank you for posting this.

She sounds like an extraordinary woman, and I never heard of her before. There must be many more unsung heroes and heroines that we should celebrate on this day, and look to for inspiration when we feel discouraged about the way our country is going.

[Bucky]

2. here is a better article for people who want to read more

http://www.albavolunteer.org/2011/12/salaria-keas-spanish-memoirs/

[catnhatnh]

3. Look, it is a nice story...

however memorial day honors soldiers killed in war. She may be a hero. She is certainly your hero. She is not a Memorial Day hero.