Researcher: Rafael Zornoza, Stuyvesant '26

Raymond Leo Peters was born in Oak Nebraska in 1909. He became a sailor in 1933 and was a dedicated anti fascist. He spent much of his time traveling between Aruba and New York on the ships Esso Aruba and W. C. Teagle. He joined the communist party of the United States well before the Spanish civil war in 1930. Unlike many of his fellow seamen, he was not a member of any of the maritime unions. He moved to New York in 1936 to pursue a career in painting, where he married his wife, Sally Philo in January of 1937. Almost immediately after his marriage, and before he was able to begin his art, the Spanish Civil War began.

Sailors like Raymond Leo Peters were inordinately likely to join the cause of the Republic. Many of them were members of the National Maritime Union which staged strikes and protests against ships carrying munitions to fascist Spain. Additionally, the communist party emphasized their recruiting strategies on waterfront communities in cities like New York and San Francisco.

On March tenth Raymond Leo Peters boarded the Queen Mary, a brand new massive trans-atlantic ocean liner bound for Southampton, England, but which made stops in Cherbourg, France. This trip was likely paid for by the communist party as Raymond Leo Peters was a card holding member, and in addition to aiding members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade once they arrived overseas, the communist party also provided the fare to get there. From Cherbourg, most volunteers posed as tourists to reach Paris where the communist party was headquartered. From Paris, they were sent south to the Pyrenees, usually to a town called Perpignan. Peters likely crossed the mountains at night, guided by comintern members in France. While this walk was grueling and lasted from dayfall to daybreak, it was not very risky, even after the border was officially shut in 1937. The French border patrollers sympathized heavily with the republicans and, in general, did everything they could to not catch the international reinforcements. For the few that were caught, they were usually able to try again a few weeks later.

Once in Spain, many refugees visited a fortress town called Figueras. There are no records of what Raymond Leo Peters did immediately upon arriving in Spain but it is definitely possible he stayed here for a short while before traveling further south to a training camp in Madrigueras. There, the first hundred international soldiers of the Washington battalion waited with more–mostly americans–arriving from Albacete each day. Raymond Leo Peters was among these recruits. On April 20th, the soon to be commander of the Washington Battalion, Mirco Markovics, a Russian educated Montenegrin, arrived in Madrigueras and found that the international recruits were far too lax. He said the common opinion of the international brigade was: “We’re volunteers. If we want to accept orders and discipline, it’s ok. But if we do not like an order, we don’t have to carry it out. We have the right to decide what to obey and what to reject.” Their official training began on May tenth, 1937. Markovics worked to instill a larger sense of responsibility in the battalion and on May 17th moved them to the town of Taragoza. Locals were initially upset with the new arrangements because of heavy drinking amongst the battalion, but eventually the Americans (not the French who were noted by the commander to drink excessively) won them over.

Here, sergeant Raymond Lee Peters conducted field maneuvers with the rest of his battalion. These went well except for the lack of weapons amongst the soldiers. The battalion had only three machine guns.

On June 9th, the battalion, now up to about 400 members, paraded across the town. On June 11th, excited to finally be at the front, 250 soldiers crammed themselves into trucks heading for Tailmer. On June 12th at about 11am Raymond Lee Peters and the rest of the soldiers stopped in Taracon, where they forced locals at gunpoint to give up their gasoline so the battalion could refuel their trucks. When they finally arrived in Tailmer at about two pm they had little access to food and had to wait until that night for rations to be sent by truck. From there, the battalion moved to Morata, where they took over the second line. The unit trained and rested for the next 13 days, receiving weapons with which to do so from other battalions. During this time, a major storm washed away multiple tents, but morale remained high.

On June 30th, Peters and the battalion completed a grueling and fruitless 14 mile road search. Afterwards they rested until 9pm on July 4th when they moved to the river Aulencia where they were incorporated with the XV Brigade’s first regiment. The Battle of Brunete began the next day.

The Nationalist front was very divided–they had strong forces at specific outposts but little in between. In response the Republics attempted to surround and destroy these outposts. In the case of the XV Brigade, they were sent to take the towns of Villanueva de la Cañada, Villanueva del Pardillo, and Villafranca del Castillo. They attacked the town of Villanueva de la Cañada in the afternoon of the 7th, and then again at night, suffering heavy casualties. Raymond Leo Peters died in the assault.

Sources

Brooks, Chris. “The Making of the Washington Battalion.” The Volunteer, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, 21 Mar. 2014, The Volunteer article. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“ALBA Video Collection TAM.621.” New York University Special Collections Finding Aids, New York University, NYU finding aid. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Protection Certificates Database.” Mystic Seaport Museum Collections & Research, Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic Seaport database. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940–1947.” Ancestry, Ancestry.com, Ancestry collection. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Raymond Leo Peters.” Find a Grave, memorial no. 272032389, Find a Grave memorial. Accessed 10 June 2026.

“Arrivals and Departures.” Spanish Civil War Fan, Spanish Civil War Fan page. Accessed 19 May 2026.

“Queen Mary Passenger List, 9 June 1937.” GG Archives, GG Archives passenger list. Accessed 9 June 2026.

Miller, Michael E. “Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain.” RealClearHistory, 26 Mar. 2018, RealClearHistory article. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Brooks, Chris. “Across the Pyrenees.” The Volunteer, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, 15 Mar. 2013, Across the Pyrenees article. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Marlowe, Lara. “Last of Lincoln Brigade Recall War in Spain.” Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 1986, Los Angeles Times article. Accessed 19 May 2026.

Rosenberg, Leo. “Brunete: The Good and the Bad.” The Volunteer, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, 6 Feb. 2018, Brunete article. Accessed 19 May 2026.