Researcher: Arianny Garcia, Stuyvesant '26

Harry Milton was born on May 11, 1907 to Jewish parents. Though I could not find their names, not any of the schools Harry Milton attended, he was raised in the New York area and the recorded address when he signed up to go to Spain was in Knickerbocker Village, in 10 Monroe Street. When he was 29 years old, he signed up to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The ALBA website says that he was given his passport on December 3, 1936, however other documents within the NYU Archives claimed that he received it much earlier and was already in Spain in November of that year. He was part of POUM, a communist organization in spain, and specifically he was mostly on the Aragon front, surprisingly enough with George Orwell. He was listed as being a Garment worker within the ALBA biographies, however, there were documents that listed him as the Social commander of the unit he and George Orwell were a part of (though the ink of the document was so faded that this was all the information I was able to gather from it). In the spring of 1937 while fighting alongside George Orwell, George Orwell was shot in the neck by a Facist sniper and Harry Milton was the one who provided first aid until he was taken to a hospital, that hospital being Sant Pau. Though I found no more records of Harry Milton immediately after this, the next events would be the May Days. POUM, as an organization, was communist, but they still supported Trotsky over Stalin, and that led to their members being targeted by the Stalinists. This led to an altercation in the middle of the street one morning between the Stalinists and the members of POUM. Both Harry Milton and George Orwell, who was also there, meaning this was after he recovered from the gunshot wound in Sant Pau, both survived, but Harry Milton was taken into police custody. I could not find out which prison he was taken to or for how long he stayed there for, but he was eventually released and had no other incidents until he was sent back to New York on the Veendam on September 14, 1937. It wasn’t until around 1984 that he was contacted by someone who wanted to interview him on his experiences in the Spanish Civil war that he was brough up again. By that point he had moved to California and was presumably living well. In the interview, it is said that he revealed that he confirmed he was the man who essentially saved George Orwell’s life during the Spanish Civil War, since George Orwell did not write down his savior’s name in his book Homage to Catalonia. I, unfortunately could not find the interview, however it was mentioned in some letters I found. The ALBA website notes Harry Milton died in 1984, however, the letters I found were dated to 1985, so he could not have died in 1984. It is more likely he died either in 1985 or even 1986.

Sources

Harry Milton, 2025, The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. April 28, 2025. https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/harry-david-milton/


La Vinguardia, “Así salvó el hospital de Sant Pau la vida del escritor George Orwell” June 18, 2025. https://www.lavanguardia.com/local/barcelona/20170218/42101776708/asi-salvo-hospital-sant-pau-vida-escritor-george-orwell.html (Though this is only for the hospital where George Orwell was taken to)


George Orwell, “Homage to Catalonia” April 25, 1938