Biography
Beebe, Vernold Masten (Master); b. December 9, 1911, Brooklyn, New York; African American; Never in Spain; father Clifton Beebe, mother Frederica Beebe; Enlisted in the NY National Guard on June 16, 1936; Married Mary R. Mayes on September 5, 1936; No passport issued, Domicile 538 A. Monroe Street, Brooklyn, New York; Sailed August 22, 1938 as a stowaway aboard the Normandie; Arrested in France, served two months in jail and then deported to the US; Traveling with James Garrett, Marshall Hartzell, Willam Joseph Holland, Walter B. Iczek, Bernard Kaplan, Israel Luckonick, Gerald McManus (aka Jerome Josephs), David Parker, Henry Louis Ulanoff, and John W. White; Returned to the US on October 25, 1938 aboard the Ile de France; WWII US Army, PFC; Enlisted January 10, 1944; d. May 4, 1976, buried Long Island National Cemetery, East Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York.Source: USSDA; African Americans; (oral history) Good Fight Interview; L-W Tree Ancestry; Find-a-Grave#82661866. Code A
Biography Vernon Masten Beebe was born in Brooklyn on December 9, 1911. In August 1938, along with ten other Americans, Beebe arrived at Le Havre, France, as a stowaway aboard the Normandie. Immediately arrested, Beebe and seven of the other stowaways stated that they were en route to Spain to join the International Brigade. The spokesman for the group, Henry Ulanoff, declared that several of them had been refused passports and that stowing away was the only way they could reach Spain. After two months in jail, Beebe was placed aboard the Ile de France bound for the United States. State Department personnel collected Beebe's temporary traveling papers after the ship docked in New York on October 31, 1938. Evidence suggests that a black volunteer named Beebe did serve in Spain before this incident occurred. It is not clear if this person is the same Vernold Masten Beebe. ~ Chris Brooks