Biography

Welch, Ralph Roy (Ralph Ray); b. September 14, 1916 (October 14, 1906), Greenfield, Massachusetts; Attended Springfield, HS; Single; Clerk; YCL 1937; Received Passport# 415043 on May 18, 1937, Domicile Cornish Flats, New Hampshire (Family Springfield, Massachusetts); Sailed May 26, 1937 aboard the Vollendam; Arrested on June 20, 1937 when the vessel he was traveling to Spain on, the Joven Teresa, was intercepted by the French aviso Granit near Port-Vendres; Arrived in Spain via Massanet on June 22, 1937; Served with the XI BDE, Auto Park despite being unable to speak German; Rank Soldado; d. November 17, 1982, Springfield, Massachusetts.

Sources: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Cadre; Figueres List; RGASPI; Joven Teresa list from a letter from Jean Massé to Jim Carmody dated November 30, 1988; L-W Tree Ancestry. Code A

Photographs: Ralph Welch in Spain, HS yearbook 1932, L-W Tree Ancestry; and below Welch in Spain RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 1011.