Walter Benjamin Garland

Walter Benjamin Garland (November 27, 1913 – January 7, 1974) was an American soldier, activist, and politician. Garland was a volunteer in the Washington Battalion of the XV International Brigade fighting for Republican Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Following the conclusion of the war, Garland joined Communist Party USA and ran for office in New York. He later worked alongside Paul Robeson as a bodyguard. Garland died in Columbus, Ohio in 1974.

Early life Garland was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 27, 1913. He joined the United States Army in 1931 at the age of eighteen. He served in the army for two years before being discharged in 1935, achieving the rank of Private First-Class. Following his army service he enrolled at Brooklyn College, where he studied mathematics. He was employed by NBC as an arranger and was attached to the media department producing Your Hit Parade (sponsored by Lucky Strike Cigarettes.) In 1935 he became a member of Communist Party USA and was active in the National Negro Congress.

Garland (center) and other Lincoln Brigade veterans return home from Spain, November 1937.(L-R): Bill Wheeler, Carl Bradley, Walter Garland, Steve Nelson, Bill Lawrence.

Garland was ordered to return to the United States in October to raise funding and manpower for the International Brigades. Once he had returned to the United States, Garland began to lobby Congress to lift the armaments ban on Republican Spain. In 1938 he ran as the Communist Party's candidate for New York's 17th State Assembly district, an office he would run for again in 1940. Garland continued to be active with the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the American Medical Bureau after the defeat of the Republican cause in 1939.

In the lead up to the Second World War, Garland was monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which concluded that Garland was an individual who should be considered dangerous and "who in all probability should be interned in event of war" on account of his communist activities and service in Spain. Following the entry of the United States into World War II, Garland attempted to reenlist in the US Army but was initially denied. He tried again and was accepted into the 731st Military Police Battalion stationed at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. Garland was appointed as an instructor, and taught classes on mortar, machine-gun, and armed scout-car tactics. He also taught map-making and gave lectures on his role in the Brunete campaign. He developed a new gun sight for machine-guns mounted on armed scout cars. Garland was promoted to the rank of first sergeant, but was not deployed overseas despite repeated requests.

Later life and death

Following the end of the war, Garland and several other African-American veterans of the Spanish Civil War formed the United Negro Allied Veterans Association (UNAVA). Garland continued to support communist causes in New York, and frequented the pro-communist Ben Davis Club in Harlem. He also organized efforts for the International Workers Order. In 1949 he traveled with Paul Robeson and acted as his bodyguard.

Garland split with the CPUSA in 1952 (the party was hemorrhaging members at this time, falling from 80,000 in 1946 to 5,000 by 1954) and was expelled from the party that same year. The FBI continued to monitor Garland until his death in Columbus, Ohio on January 7, 1974.