Spanish Civil War Veteran Dies

© 2006, Peter Marshall
Lou Kenton in 2006

Lou Kenton, an ambulance driver for the Attlee Battalion of the International Brigade thought to be the oldest surviving veteran of the Spanish Civil War, died last week in Acton, aged 104.  He had been in the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 before hitching to Spain.

© 2009, Peter Marshall
Lou Kenton at the International Brigade Commemoration in 2009

I photographed him at several of the annual commemorations of the International Brigade, held every July at the memorial  to the Brigade in Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank, along with the annually decreasing number of those who fought in Spain.

© 2012, Peter Marshall
David Loman unveils the new plaque next to the memorial, July 2012

His death leaves David Loman who unveiled a  new plaque beside the memorial sculpture at this year’s event as the only remaining British veteran. You can read more about that event and see more pictures in Sacrifice For Spain Remembered on My London Diary, and there are more pictures of Lou Kenton and other veterans in accounts from some earlier years, particularly in 2006, where my account of the event some way down the page includes a link to quite a few pictures including this group portrait of seven of the many brave young volunteers – more than two thousand from Britain, Ireland and the commonwealth – who went to Spain because their “open eyes could see no other way.” .

© 2006, Peter Marshall
Bob Doyle, Sam Lesser, Paddy Cochrane, Jack Jones, Jack Edwards,
Lou Kenton & Penny Feiwel at the 2006 event

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All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated are by Peter Marshall and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.

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