Bertie Milton, pictured above with his brother, grew up in Brodick on the Isle of Arran. In 1937, he disappeared from his job as a postman in Kilmarnock, soon arriving in Spain where he joined the International Brigade, the volunteer units who came from all over the world to defend the Spanish Republic from a right-wing uprising.
Millport's William Bamborough, was an avid young aviator who signed up to pilot planes for the threatened Republic soon after the war began. He later returned as a merchant navy blockade runner. When his ship was sunk by a Nazi bomber, Bamborough and his crew had to row to the Catalan coast.
George McLeod, of Stornoway, left the Outer Hebrides for Canada in the early 1920s, returning to Europe to join the struggle in Spain.
The remarkable stories of these individuals are explored in the new Island Brigaders publication, available to buy here.
