Steven R Yates
Steve Yates was a London electrician and Communist Party member who died fighting to defend Madrid from Franco's Fascist's on 9th November 1936 in the Casa del Campo urban park, west of the centre of the city.
The sacrifice of those who bravely stood firm at Casa del Campo stopped the fascist advance in their tracks and held the line for almost three years. The fascist assault may have been halted but appallingly heavy casualties were suffered. Yates was killed in battle within two days of arriving in Madrid. He had been part of the Commune de Paris Battalion section of the 11th international Brigade.
Amongst the first column marching into Madrid to save it was a small unit of ‘English’ machine-gunners, which included two New Zealanders, Yates, and also Griffith Campbell Maclaurin, a Cambridge graduate originally from Auckland who also died.
Source:
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/page/new-zealanders-march-beseiged-madrid
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