Biography
Yellin, John Harley (Ellis, Jack), b. August 15, 1913, West Sussex, Connecticut (December 19, 1914 Brooklyn New York); Father Sam Yellin, mother Mary Yellin; Attended Brooklyn Technical University, studied architecture for 6 years; No prior military experience; Single; Architect, Draftsman, Driver, and Mechanic; International Workers Order (IWO) branch committee; CP 1934 (CP December 1932), YCL 1934, and Spanish CP; Received Passport# 369034 on February 24, 1937 which listed his address as 2921 West 31st Street, Brooklyn, New York; Arrived in Europe on March 10, 1937; Arrived in Spain on March 28, 1937; Served with the XIII BDE (Dombrowskis), 1st BN, Sanidad, April 2, 1937 to August 15, 1937; Albacete Auto Park, Mechanic and Ambulance Driver; Responsible for American Group August 15, 1937 to April 15, 1938; Guerrilla school in Barcelona April 15, 1938 to July 1938; Administrator and Political Commissar of International Brigade, Horta, July 1938 to October 1938, Political Commissar circa July 21, 1938; Rank Sargento; Served at Cordoba April 21, 1937 to July 5, 1937; Brunete July 6 to August 10, 1937; WIA July 23, 1937, wounded in face and arms by shrapnel while loading patients into his ambulance; Was in hospital at Hayo de Mauzanares for 7 or 8 days circa September 1937 to treat shrapnel wounds from Brunete; Due to a fight circa December 1937 was sentenced to 10-days confinement, a sentence he felt was unjust and felt it was “done merely to discredit me.”; Requested repatriation in September 1937; Returned to the US on December 20, 1938 aboard the Ausonia; WWII US Navy, Radar mechanic, April 1944-December 1945; d. April 27, 1972Sources: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Cadre; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 1017, ll. 18-36; ALBA 255 John Yellin Papers. Code A
Biography John ("Jack") Harley Yellin (August 15, 1913-April 28, 1972), served as a volunteer on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. He arrived in Spain on January 1, 1937 and joined the International Brigades (probably the Lincoln Battalion of the Fifteenth International Brigade, or possibly in the Thirteenth--Jaroslav Dombrowski Polish--International Brigade, First Battalion), where he worked as a automobile mechanic and driver. He served at Cordoba and Brunete, and was wounded in action on July 23, 1937. He returned to the United States after July of 1938. Yellin was born in Connecticut; he was an architect and a draftsman. He also served in the United States Navy during World War II (from April 1944-December 1945), as radar mechanic. - Courtesy Tamiment Library, NYU.
Photograph: Jack Yellin in Spain, RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 1017, ll. 18..