Brigade hero dies

AN English hero of the International Brigades has died age 95.

Born in 1915, Sam Russell was one of the first British volunteers to sign up to fight Franco during the Spanish Civil War.

After being wounded near Cordoba he became a radio reporter for the Republicans and later the Spanish correspondent for the British paper The Daily Worker.

He later reported from many countries including Vietnam, Yugoslavia and China and he famously witnessed the 1973 coup in Chile writing, “I saw democracy murdered”.

In 1996, 60 years after the formation of the International Brigades, Russell returned to Spain to receive honorary citizenship.

The Spanish national El Pais dedicated half a page to the life of the hero, who is survived by his daughter Ruth.