Sources
Obituary for Bob Doyle (1916-2009) - by Manus O'Riordan
Death of Irish brigadista Bob Doyle
To:Abraham Lincoln Brigade Forum
Dear friends,
As Executive Member for Ireland of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, I regret to have to inform you that the death has taken place in London on Thursday, January 22, of Brigadista Bob Doyle - the last surviving Irish fighter of the 15th International Brigade. Dubliner Bob Doyle has passed on just 3 weeks short of his 93rd birthday.
Bob fought on the Aragon front, but was captured by the fascists at Calaceite in March 1938 and had to endure a year's imprisonment in the San Pedro concentration camp, as vividly described in his autobiography, simply entitled "Brigadista". Bob was a fighting campaigner to the very end of his life, and his speech in both Barcelona, on the occasion of the International Brigade Homenaje this past October, and in Belfast, on the occasion of his re-dedication of that Irish city's International Brigade memorial in November, sought to focus on the lessons of Spain for contemporary struggles. In the words of the title given to the Spanish edition of his autobiography - Memorias de un rebelde sin pausa - Bob Doyle was indeed a life-long rebel without a pause.
See http://www.oocities.org/irelandscw/ibvol-BobDoyle.htm for extensive material on Bob Doyle's life and times on Ciaran Crossey's website, "Ireland and the Spanish Civil War".
Manus O'Riordan
23 January 2009
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