Page 10) = PA. Features, February 10

- . - as He Lived

Capt. Hermen Bottcher, one of the great soldiers
of this war, died behind enemy lines on Leyte. A
comrade-in-arms who fought with him in Spain
tells the story of this German-born foe of fascism.

ns a By HAROLD SMITH

C ONSIDERING his political conviction$ and the way

he specialized in operating behind the enemy lines, —

Captain Herman Bottcher, holder of the Distinguished Ser-
vice Cross with the Oak Leaf Cluster, three Purple Hearts,

recommended for a posthumous
Silver Star, fits very neatly in
to that category of people
whom Winston Churchill saw
fit to designate as “Communist
bandits from the hills,” indeed,
to sharpen the point, there is
a certain judge who if he has

any conscience must sleep
these nights .with great un-
ease for he almost deprived

America of the services of Capt.
Bottcher.

That story goes back to 1939
when Bottcher was being held
on Hillis Island after his re-
turn from fighting against
Franco in Spain. Bottcher, Ger-
man-born and still lacking his
final citizenship papers, was
held for a week and grilled as
to his political beliefs. But let
Bottcher tell his own story.

“The judge told me, “Why
don’t you go back to Germany ?
We don’t want your kind here.’
{ told him I was fighting what
Germany stood for, and he
suggested I should go to Rus-
Sia. I said I wanted to be an
American.”

Luckily for America Bottcher
had friends and he succeeded
gn getting past the judge,
whose name we don’t know, but
who certainly is a man by
whose side Congressman Ran-
kin would be glad to sit.

(pose words of Herman Bott-
cher tell us much about the
‘man. He was not a particularly
loquacious fellow and not at
all emotional. But his hatred
of the Nazis and the shame he
felt for the actions of the Ger-
man people he made known to
all by deed and word. It was
as if he strove by his own ac-
tivities, by his constant readi-
ness both in Spain and the Pa-
cific, to give of himself over
and above the eall of duty, to
take upon his own German-born
body as much as possible of
the task of defeating fascism,
thus atoning for the misdeeds
of the country of his birth.
As whole-heartedly as he
fought against the Japanese,
‘he regretted the fact that he.
could not be in action against
the Nazis. Before the landing
of the Americans in Europe,
when the Red Army was in con-
stant deadly struggle with the
Nazis, he wrote to the Veterans
of the Abraham Lincoln Bri-
gade, “How I wish that I could
fight in that theatre of war.”

It was this hatred of fascism
that made Bottcher such a good
American—a man whose fond-
est hope was to gain citizenship
in the land of his adoption. He
struggled and sacrificed bodily
comfort to gain that citizen-
ship. It was a long road for him.

A road which led through Aus-
tralia where at the age of two
he first landed in 1929, after
leaving Germany. Patient sav-
ing of money, appeal after ap-
peal to the American consul in
Sydney and -then finally the
entry permit which brought
him to San Francisco with $60
in his pocket and hope in his
heart. That was in 1931 and
things were tough but he
scrimped and saved and in 1937
he was working “his way
through San Francisco State
College, scheduled to take his
degree in June. But Hitler had
already launched his military
attack for the conquest of the
world by his invasion of Spain
—and Bottcher was a good
American. His Americanism
was not the mealy mouthed
flag waving of the professional
patrioteer. He did not under
the guise of Americanism de-
nounce the democratic people
of Spain fighting for their
own freedom and to stop the
world hungry Nazi in his
tracks. His patriotism was
based on a study of the pro-
gressive traditions of our
country and on the knowledge
that our history was replete
with examples of support of
those who fought for liberty in
far off lands. Bottcher’s adver-
Sion to fascism was grounded
upon scientific study of the
nature of fascism. As he him-
self said, “I have been fight-
ing fascism since 1929.”

HK ikmew that his adopted
homeland, America, ‘was
-threatened by the march of the
Nazi into Spain. He joined
the ranks of those 3,000 some-
odd men and boys, in their ma-
jority, Communists, who under
the banner of Abraham Tin-
coln fought for a free America
and a free world on the hills
and in the valleys of Spain.

Don’t think that it was easy
for Bottcher to make that de-

cision. He wasn’t an adventurer, :

a seeker of thrills and fortune.
It is most inept and mislead-
ing to describe him as a “fight-
ing fool” as many writers do in
their accounts of his exploits.
But let him speak for himself.

“I just had to go. I fought
against myself for weeks — I
wanted so badly to finish ecol-
lege. But then I knew I couldn’t
expect someone else to fight
Hitler if I didn’t go myself.”

[- was as tough and as simple

as that. He, the conscious
fighter against fascism, recog-
nized and accepted the respon-
sibility that rests upon the
shoulders of all those - whose
political philosophy make them

aware of the ills of society and
steels them to combat these ills.
He, the man. who so deeply
eraved American citizenship,
was willine to risk the loss of
the technical guarantee of that
citizenship, his final papers, in
order to fulfill his duty to Am-
erica as he so truly understood
it. (It is gratifying to know=
that the most deeply appreci-
ated battle honor Bottcher re-
ceived in New Guinea were his
final citizenship papers.)

Bottcher went to Spain in
February, 1937. He talked af-
terward of those years as “‘glori-
ous and depressing.” The glory
came from the knowledge that
he was fighting for a just cause;
from the love that he manifest-
ed in so many ways, kept alive
in numerous anecdotes, for the
Spanish people; from the un-
breakable friendship that: he
formed with his fellow Amer-
icans and Internationals from
other countries. His letters to
the Veterans from the Pacific
are full of expressions of regard
to men he knew, pleasure in re-
ceiving news of the other fel-
lows through the Volunteer for
Liberty, the American vets’
paper, and the deep satisfaction
that was his when he learned
of those who distinguished
themselves in action against the
old enemy, and there were many
such nren.

@:

LETTER of October, 1943,

shows how strong were the
bonds that were formed in
Spain. He wrote: “To bad that
Bob Thompson had to leave the
outfit, he could have gone far.
Hyerybody from the Command-
ing General to the private was
very much impressed by Bob’s
ability and courage. Recently
I met George Kaye here (he
used to he active on the West
Coast). Perhaps it would be
posible that many are in the
least a partial list of names and
addresses of vets. It is quite
possible that mony are in the
same theatre of war and yet do
not know about each other.”

Bottcher also talked about
the Spanish years as “depres-
sing.” Such feelings came upon
him as it came, at times, upon
all who fought there through
the hard-won advances, that
were always frustrated by lack
of arms and equipment, and
through the long, heart-break-
ing retreats before an always
superior and constantly rein-
forced enemy. Such feelings
arose because Bottcher was
aware that the fascists could
be licked in Spain, that another
World War could be prevented,
if only England and America
would follow the example of the
Soviet Union and Mexico in giv-
ing aid to the Spanish Rephblic,
or at least prevent Germany and
Italy from giving aid to Franco.
However, these moods never
prevented Bottcher from con-
tinually acting in such a way
as to firmly establish his repu-
tation as a first class fighting
man. And it was not only as
a fighter with rifle in hand that
Bottcher became known. He
was more than that. He com-
bined such activities with those
of a leader and teacher of men.
He was able te inspire men to

action, to clear up doubts and
explain the meaning of events.
That’s why Johnny Gates, Bri-
gade Commissar, and now a
Paratroop sergeant, made Bot-
tcher Commissar of the Com-
munication Company of the
15th International Brigade. And
Johnny, who is not exactly lay-
ish with words of praise, will
willingly expound upon the
splendid job that Bottcher did.

AE same political under-
standing that fitted Bottcher
for the exacting role of a front-
line commissar brought him to
the doors of an Army recruiting
station on Dee. 8, 1941. The
petty persecutions that had been
inflicted upon those who fought
in Spain did not deter him. It
did not matter to him that lit-
tle men in thigh places had
manufactured a phrase for men

of his convictions, a phrase
shocking im its distortion of
values, “premature anti-fas-
cists.” Bottcher had learned

Since he first landed in America
that Abe Lincoln, whose name
was on the banners of his old
brigade, had been called some
very nasty things by the fools
and scoundrels of his day. Bott-
cher knew the score and knew
what was at stake. He joined
the Army to take up the gun
he had laid down in the last
days of 1938.

Of his deeds after he joined,
much has been waxitten and un-
doubtedly there will be more,
for Bottcher became one of the
great soldiers of this war. At
Buna village he led his section
in the action that split the
Japanese lines, made a great
victory possible, and earned for
the little plot of earth that he
held with his men the name of
“Bottcher’s Corner.’ It was
there he won the Distinguished
Service Cross. Even more than
that he gained a distinction
rarely given to a soldier, pro-
motion on the field of battle
from sergeant to
“Tife,” which reported this story
in its pages, also had an inter-
esting little exchange of letters
after the story appeared. A
reader wrote: ““As a second lieu-
tenant in the U.S. Army Air
Corps I’m writing to ask the
formula which Soldier Bottcher
employed to secure his rapid
promotion.” The editor answer-
ed with admirable conciseness:
“The formula is heroism.”

The last direct word from
Bottcher was brought back by a
Spanish War veteran, Nat
Gross, who has returned on fur-
lough after two and a half years
in the South Pacific. He told
of Bottcher’s determination to
Stay In the fight until the war
was won. JBottcher spoke in
the same way that he had when
interviewed by reporters in the
Australian hospital where he
was convalescine from the
wounds received at Buna. Elig-
ible for return home or limited
Service because of multiple
wounds, malaria and a perfor-
ated eardrum, Bottcher said: “I
don’t think I’d be doing my job
if I went home or took some
base headquarter’s job. I could
do better in a combat unit.”

As a member of a combat
unit, commander of the Divi-
sional Reconnaissance Company,
Bottcher landed with the Am-

captain.

=e

&
:

a

‘erican troops at Leyte. A,’
he took his unit behind the © 7
anese lines but for the-last +)"
After such deeds as the-._
ture of the highest ranking ¢-
anese officer the Americans
their hands on, Bottcher was
by a mortar burst. He ||
within two hours. t

General MacArthur has a
Bottcher for heroism. His «=
commanding general, Maj. (
Gill, said after his death (1)
Bottcher “played an invalu:
part in the 32nd Division !
tories.’ The Australian <
ernment has called him “a <
man army.” The American T
ion magazine has given ~
high praise. And well has
deserved these honors—for
has proved with his life
death the dignity and stat
of a true American.

|

In your remembrances of FE
man Bottcher and when you
his tale, never forget the we
that he himself wrote: “
hardest battle for us will §
to win the peace, to overc
discrimination, injustice, j }
erty, insecurity. We have |
build a positive and dyna f
democracy in order to suryii

In these words, Bottc}
spoke not only for himself,
for all those who have fz }
in the war for democracy. j
spoke for those who have !]
been part of the earth and}
of Spain. And he spoke
those who have died since ¢]’
It does not matter what -{
flung corner of the earth 7 ff
came from, whether it vf
America or China, whether ¢ #
fought under the battle fl
of the British Empire or y¥ |
_ther they killed the Nazis +
improvised weapons and sk
ed the war slogans of the
lant HLAS. His words exp.
their aspirations and t
hopes. No matter in what
gue Bottcher’s story is
-nor to what nation -of the =}
ples who make up and back
the liberating armies of
world, I think that once
it will not be forgotten. .
maybe that’s the highest pr §
a man can get. j

Continued from Page :

CCF

cratic alliance! It shall be c}
CCF candidates, regardless §
whom it may help to elect. {,

candidate to endorse in a gif
constituency. The CCE’s cif,

ers of Oshawa and Windsor ji
select their local, candidate}:
a good example, of what
be expected. It. is danger
political opportunism in
flower.

ploit the record and the n:}
of the great CIO leaders
their PAG for activities wi}
Murray, QThomas and Hillr y
and the CIO PAC had to ¢
demn and fight in the U.SA¥
is a policy which seeks-to iso }
the €CL unions from the 1
of organized labor in the cc
try and from the non-work}

2

because it cannot but dir
even the @CL unions. ;