This is my grandfather, Hermenegildo Bellviure, on 15 February 1958, joking with his two subordinates as he imitates a Moroccan soldier in the streets of Sidi Ifni, during the last Spanish Colonial War, the Ifni War. A week ago, I wrote an article on Medium in an awesome project started by Historic Stories, about his experience, and you can easily find it by searching ‘My grandfather and The Ifni War’ on the Internet. I leave you with a little fragment here.

There is a popular habanera in Catalonia that says, ‘My grandfather went to Cuba, on board of the Català, the best ship on the Navy of the Overseas Fleet’. The song, called ‘El meu avi’, was written exactly 50 years ago, in 1968, but the lyrics remember a much farther reality. […] The Spanish–American War of 1898 does certainly still provoke a little spite. It was then, during the long summer of 1898 when the Spanish political disputes, the officers’ excessive pride, and the estrange diseases of the Cuban forests destroyed forever the Spanish Empire.

At the end of Franco’s dictatorship, a group of certain Moroccan tribes, led by Ben Hammu, took up arms in the Sahara colony, claiming a land they considered theirs. At that time, my grandfather was doing the compulsory military service in Paterna, a small town on the outskirts of Valencia. Although antimilitarist, he agreed to do the promotion test and was immediately promoted to corporal. […] Although education in Spain during the dictatorship was of an ominous nature, my grandfather was allowed to study one more year than the Franco regime used to sponsor. It was for this reason that, to his surprise, he was sent to the topographical unit; he had achieved the highest mark in the Army’s mathematical examination. […] Want to read more? Head to the web.

---

Mi abuelo, el 15 de febrero de 1958, bromeando disfrazado de marroquí con sus dos subordinados en las calles de Sidi Ifni, durante la última Guerra Colonial Española, la Guerra de Ifni.

1. colored #colorized #colourised #colorization #colourisation #color #colour #history #ww1 #wwi #worldwarone #greatwar #thegreatwar #ww2 #wwii #worldwartwo #ifniwar #guerradeifni