Biography

Vélez Colón, Baudilo (Baudillos, Velez); b. December 2, 1898, Arecibo, Puerto Rico; Puerto Rican; Single; Clerk for a manufacturing company; Domicile 504 W 131st Street, NY; Moved to Spain in December 1930; Joined the Column Perea on August 20, 1936; Served with the 72nd Division, 38th BDE, 1st Battalion, Co. 1; Served at Guadalajara, Aravaco, Pozuelo-Lozaya, and Alacaniz; WIA March 20, 1938, Castillon; Received Passport # 38, Valencia series, on November 17, 1937, which listed his address as Arecibo, Puerto Rico (504 W. 137th Street, NYC); Attempted to obtain papers for repatriation from the American Consulate in Barcelona but had not received them by the time the war ended; He left Spain as a refugee and was held in Argelès sur Mer, a French Concentration camp; Returned to the US on February 26, 1939 aboard the President Roosevelt; After interrogation by immigration official and confirmation of his identity he was released; He lived at 506 West 131st Street, NYC and worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant; Later returned to Puerto Rico; d. June 1973, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

---

Sources: Scope of Soviet Activity; USSDA 852.2221/1418 Request for repatriation, January 13, 1939; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 829, ll. 80-82; L-W Tree Ancestry Passenger and Crew List: José Alejandro Ortiz Carrión and Teresita Torres Rivera, Voluntarios de la Libertad, Puertorriqueños en Defensa de la República Española 1936-1939. Code A