Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Marvin Penn was born in Winnipeg on September 14, 1913, to Annie and Joseph Penn. Moving to Canada with his family in 1928, he graduated from the University of Manitoba with a degree in Animal Husbandry and then moved to British Columbia to learn hunting fish and mining. After returning to Winnipeg a year later, Penn worked as a fur dresser and joined the Canadian Militia.
In 1936 Penn left Winnipeg for Spain where he joined the International Brigade, serving with the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and later the MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion. Penn participated in four major battles as a soldier and as a first aid man before stationing with the brigade headquarters at the Karl Marx barracks in Barcelona, setting up and supervising a hospital for International Brigadiers.
Penn returned to Canada in 1939 and lived in Toronto from 1943 to 1953, working mostly in the restaurant industry before returning to Winnipeg where he worked in airplane manufacturing during World War Two.Penn worked in the insurance industry and served on the boards of Bnai Brith and Herzlia Academy. He was also a broker of his own business, Penn Agencies and was a member of the Winnipeg Real Estate Board for 35 years. Penn organized a local group for veterans of the Spanish Civil War and was heavily involved with other veteran groups around the world. In 1996, he returned to Spain with other veterans of the Spanish Civil War where he was made an honourary citizen.
Penn passed away in Winnipeg in 2001.