Schlekau, Walter Edward.

Biography

Schlekau, Walter Edward. b. November 5, 1914, Lemmon, South Dakota; 8th grade education; Single; Truck Driver; CP 1936; Received Passport# 437633 on June 9, 1937 which listed his address as 2102 Chicago Street, Omaha, Nebraska (1108 C Street, Sacramento, California); Sailed June 12, 1912 aboard the Georgic; Arrived in Spain via Massanet on June 25, 1937; Served with the XV Brigade, Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion; Deserted during the Retreats; Arrived in Marseille, France on April 19, 1938, jumped ship onto the SS Naldera to London, arriving by May 6, 1938; WWII Merchant Marine, South Pacific, baker; d. April 19, 2002, Nipomo, San Luis Obispo, California, buried in San Joaquin Valle National Cemetery, Santa Nella, California.
Sources: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Cadre; Figueres List; Mac-Pap; USSDA 2:0901, 59:0845; Harriman; Find-a-Grave# 72833526; L-W Tree Ancestry; (obituary notice) The Volunteer, Volume 24, No. 4, December 2002, p. 21; “Yanks Stranded in Spain War,” Schenectady Gazette, April 20, 1938, p. 5; “Score of Americans Stranded in Spain,” AP, Daily News (NYC), April 20, 1938, p. 287.