Joan Escudé i Farriol

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Joan Escudé i Farriol was born on 6 January 1916 in Capellades, Catalonia, Spain. His father died when he was an infant, leaving the family in poverty. In 1927, his mother moved with her two sons to Barcelona. As a teenager, Joan became involved in the Catalan nationalist movement Estat Català, combining political activity with a passion for hiking.

Following the military uprising of July 1936, he volunteered to defend the Republic, joining the 1st Pyrenean Regiment (Regiment Pirinenc núm. 1), a Catalan mountain unit formed under the Generalitat. In March 1937, he left for the Aragon front, initially undertaking road maintenance and other duties before entering combat that summer.

His service took him through Santa Orosia, Belchite and the Sabiñánigo sector. During the Republican offensive that captured Gavín and Biescas in September 1937, his actions earned him promotion to corporal. He spent the final months of the war on the Ebro front, before the collapse of Republican resistance in Catalonia forced him to flee into France in February 1939.

Escudé endured approximately four months in French internment camps, including Le Barcarès, before returning to Barcelona in June 1939. His Republican and Catalan nationalist background made finding employment difficult. Despite his previous wartime service, he was subsequently required to complete military service under Franco’s regime between June 1940 and November 1942.

He rebuilt his life repairing typewriters, later establishing his own business. He married in 1945, and the couple had three children. In later life, he shared his memories of the war and its aftermath; on 6 January 2026, he celebrated his 110th birthday.