Researcher: Renae Leung, Stuyvesant '25

On July 5th, 1916, William Harris Cantor was born to Hyman Cantor and Ida Nachamovitz in Brooklyn, New York. He had an older brother, Nathan Cantor (1914-1990), and two younger brothers, Israel Cantor (1919-2009) and Jacob Cantor (1923-2013). He graduated from high school and then attended college for one year. He served in the US Marine Corps Reserve for 1 and ½ years before working as a clerk and a seaman.


In 1937, Cantor became affiliated with the Young Communist League and officially joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Cantor exemplifies the restlessness of the youth living in the United States—or more specifically, in New York—during this time period as they experienced the effects of the Great Depression and witnessed the rise of fascism in Europe. As a result, Cantor and many others like him joined the Spanish Civil War effort to fight against fascism and gain a semblance of agency in a rapidly changing world. On April 28th, 1937, he sailed to Spain on the Aquitania, arriving on May 30th after surviving the sinking of the City of Barcelona, which was torpedoed by an Italian submarine.


Upon arrival, Cantor was put in military training but after several weeks, the twenty-year-old applied to go home, feeling as if he had made a mistake in enlisting. This is a reflection of how many young soldiers became indecisive about their decision to join the war effort after seeing the human cost and the brutality of the Spanish Civil War. His application was denied, but he attempted to go home once more when his brigade passed through Valencia to the Aragon front. He served with the XV Brigade, Washington Battalion’s company 3, section 3 and later the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion.


However, instead of boarding the train with the other soldiers, he purposefully missed it and appealed for assistance with obtaining repatriation at the American embassy. He was told he would have to escape alone, and despite saying he would attempt to do so, Cantor rejoined his brigade on his own. Five days later during the second day at Quinto, he dragged a wounded soldier from an exposed rooftop, narrowly avoiding sniper fire. Despite being noted for his distinguished service, he continued to doubt his role in the Spanish Civil War and continued his attempts at obtaining repatriation.


After Belchite, Cantor deserted to Barcelona for 10 days, where he voluntarily reported to the International Brigade delegation and returned to the XV Brigade under guard. He appears to have served at Fuentes de Ebro where he was wounded in the leg, later returning from the hospital in January 1938. This time, he successfully deserted with another volunteer soldier by finding a British seaman who helped them stow away on a ship headed for Gibraltar and Galveston, Texas.


In the United States, he married Frances Colow, who was the sister of Maury Colow, another volunteer soldier in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. They had two sons together: Michael Cantor (1939-1994) and Alan Cantor (1944-2008). Despite Cantor’s indecisiveness in the Spanish Civil War, he decided to serve in the US Navy in WWII, possibly because of the widespread support for the war in the United States. In contrast, both sides of the Spanish Civil War experienced and perpetrated atrocities, which provides a valuable explanation for Cantor’s attempts to flee.


On December 3rd, 1959, William Harris Cantor died in Brooklyn. He remains buried in New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, New York.

Sources

Brooks, Chris. 2022. “ALB Tribute | **Middle Atlantic States 2 -- New York Gravesites** | Facebook.” Facebook.com. Facebook Groups. 2022. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2760374827449063/posts/2827890100697535/.


“CANTOR, William Harris | Sidbrint.” 1936. Ub.edu. 1936. https://sidbrint.ub.edu/brigadista/cantor-william-harris.


“Cantor, William Harris | the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.” 2019. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. December 9, 2019. https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/william-harris-cantor/.


Carroll, Peter N. 1994. The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade : Americans in the Spanish Civil War. California: Stanford University Press.