Delmer Berg

Del Berg (born December 20, 1915) is an American union organizer who volunteered to serve with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Berg briefly trained with the Oregon National Guard, prior to going to Spain in 1937. He served with the United States Army during World War 2.

Berg became a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America in a Spanish hospital, while recuperating from a shrapnel wound to his liver. He remained an interested and active 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 Ernst and Tomas from two different marriages. His current wife is June Berg. He started to serve as a union organizer in the 1950s, and, in a 2007 interview, described the steps he took to discourage the attention of FBI 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 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 on farm conditions as a representative of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.

As his comrades died Berg was sought out for more frequent interviews. Berg decision to volunteer to travel to a foreign country to fight fascism has been described as symbolic and inspirational. He was interviewed for an episode of the PBS show History Detectives to provide background about the experience of American volunteers when a segment was focused around an artifact from the Spanish Civil War. Berg lives in Columbia, California.