Einsley Delmer Berg | |
---|---|
Born | December 15, 1915 Anaheim, Orange County, California |
Died |
February 29, 2016 (aged 100) Columbia, California |
Allegiance |
Spanish Republic United States of America |
Service/branch |
Oregon National Guard International Brigades United States Army |
Years of service | 1937-1939 (Spanish Civil War) |
Unit | 76th Field Artillery Regiment |
Battles/wars | (World War II) |
Other work | Farmer, Union Organizer, Cement Finisher, landscape gardener, activist. |
Einsley Delmer "Del" Berg (December 20, 1915 – February 28, 2016) was an American soldier and union organizer who volunteered to serve with the XV International Brigade (nicknamed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade) during the Spanish Civil War.
Born in Anaheim, California, he was originally a dish washer. Berg once saw a sign looking for people to fight fascism. Berg briefly trained with the Oregon National Guard prior to going to Spain in 1937. He served in the United States Army during World War II and was stationed at Morotai Island. He became a member of the Communist Party of the United States while in a Spanish hospital, while recuperating from a shrapnel wound to his liver. He remained an interested and active party member up to the time of his last interview in 2014.
Berg, who was raised on a farm, worked as a farm worker, cement finisher and landscape gardener, in the years following his demobilization. He fathered two sons from two different marriages. He began serving as a union organizer in the 1950s, and, in a 2007 interview, described the steps he took to discourage the attention of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. Berg became an official of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), when he was elected the Vice President of the Stanislaus County branch. In the 1950s during the Red Scare, he was often harassed. In a 2007 interview with the Union Democrat Berg described delivering a petition to the racist county sheriff, demanding his resignation. Berg described testifying at a hearing in Washington, D.C. on farm conditions as a representative of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.