British war memorial spray painted with Nazi symbols in Alicante
Welshman Captain Archibald Dickson rescued almost 3,000 people during the Spanish Civil War
The memorial statue of Welshman Captain Archibald Dickson, which has stood proudly in Alicante Port for more than a decade, has once again been vandalised by suspected far-right activists.This time, the inscription that honours the historical events that took place at the end of the Spanish Civil War have been scribbled out with black spray paint and, most disturbingly of all, a swastika has been drawn below the bust of the war hero.
Ya tenemos la primera visita no deseada al memorial del puerto.
— Manolo Copé (@manocope) April 21, 2024
Ellos mismos se han calificado. pic.twitter.com/7qzAvIVeRf
Although he’s little known in his native Wales, Captain Archibald Dickson has been immortalised in Alicante for the role he played in saving thousands of lives during the Franco regime.
In March 1939, Captain Dickson set sail for Spain aboard the SS Stanbrook to collect a shipment of fruit but when he arrived in the Costa Blanca port, he discovered hoards of terrified refugees desperate to escape Franco’s forces. Without a thought, the Welshman dumped his cargo and squeezed 2,638 people onto his ship and carried them to safety.
Barely 10 minutes after the SS Stanbrook left, the port was bombed. Captain Dickson made a 20-hour voyage across the Mediterranean to French-held Oran in Algeria, dodging German aircraft bombers and Franco’s ship the Canarias which repeatedly tried to sink his vessel.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time the memorial has suffered an attack from the extreme right since it was first erected in 2014 on the 75th anniversary of the legendary rescue.
In May 2017, the inscription plaque was ripped from the statue, just one day after Alicante announced it would be twinned with Captain Dickson’s home town of Cardiff. Two years later, during preparations to commemorate the 80th anniversary, the bust was covered with graffiti of the Fascist Falange symbol and a Spanish flag.
Image: PSOE Alicante Ciudad
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