Researcher: Joanna Zeng, Stuyvesant '20

Leonora Chandos Temple was a Jewish woman who volunteered to serve in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. She was born to Edward and Helen Temple in Pasadena, California on November 29th, 1908 and she became a nurse in New York City. She was the oldest of five siblings. She was also part of the Communist Party. In the Spanish Civil War, she served with Medical Services. 

Temple became romantically involved with Philip Detro, who was a commanding officer (Battalion Commander) in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. After Detro was shot by a sniper while fighting in Teruel, doctors found that he had a compound fracture in the right femur. Doctors advised him to get his leg amputated, but Detro refused. Temple nursed him until he died of gangrene in the hospital. After his passing, he left Leonora his papers and his estate. Leonora Chandos Temple was arrested and imprisoned in Spain on unspecified charges. After she was released, she left Spain aboard the British Destroyer Hotspur. She later married and had two children (a son (Jerome Temple) and a daughter). She died in New York City on December 7th, 1994.

Sources

“Leonora Chandos Temple.” The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, alba-valb.org/volunteers/leonora-chandos-temple/

.
Simkin, John. Spartacus Educational, Spartacus Educational, spartacus-educational.com/TUdetroP.htm.