New Mexico Volunteers – Virgil Ivan McCasland
The Albuquerque Museum hosted ALBA’s Shouts from the Wall: Posters and Photographs Brought Back from the Spanish Civil War from September 8, 1996 to October 27, 1996. Four biographical sketches were prepared to highlight volunteers from New Mexico. [1]
Virgil Ivan McCasland
Passport address: Tucumcari, New Mexico. Born on July 4, 1910, to J. H. and Luella McCasland in Tucumcari, he was raised on a small ranch two miles west of town and attended Tucumcari public schools from 1926 to 1933. Classmates describe him as a “quiet sort of fellow,” but others comment on his interest in politics. When or how he decided to volunteer, or even if he was acquainted with the other New Mexicans, is not known. He sailed for Spain on the S.S. Berengari on July 21, 1937. No details of his service in the civil war are available, but he survived and returned to Tucumcari, always refusing in later years to discuss his Spanish experiences. Much of his later life was spent in California, although he died in 1990, at the age of 79, in Phoenix, Arizona
[1] I am not sure who wrote these sketches. If you know who put them together please let me know so I can provide proper credit.
