The Toledo Blade
January 6, 1959.
Morgan Uncertain
Of Status In Eyes Of U.S. Government
An adventurous Toledoan, who led a force of Cuban guerrillas known as the “Tigers of the Espesura,” wants to come home if it’s all right with Uncle Sam, he said yesterday in Cuban in a telephone interview with The Blade.
“All I’m interested in is settling down to a nice, peaceful existence,” said William A. Morgan, a major in Fidel Castro’s rebel army.
The 30-year-old fighter, who left Toledo to join the rebels just before Christmas of 1957, is now a commandant of the city of Cienfuegos in Los Villas Province.
“The only thing I can do is sit tight until I see where I stand,” said the guerrilla leader who advanced from the rank of “soldier” to commander of 5,000 rebel warriors during the revolution.
“I’m kind of on the spot,” he continued. “I’ve been fighting here more than a year and I don’t know what my status is with the (United States) Government.”
“Tigers of the Espesura,” the rebel army major explained, is the name given to the band of rebels by natives of the province. It means tigers of the jungle.
“My men fought in 15 or 16 battles--more than any other rebel force—and had heavier losses than the others,” he said.
He said his force numbered 5,000 when the revolution began. Only 3,000 men survived the bitter fighting, he said
His rank of major, he added, was conferred by Mr. Castro. It is the highest rank possible in the rebel army. He said he had been a member of Mr. Castro’s general staff.
Mr. Morgan was graduated from Rosary Cathedral School here and attended Central Catholic High School two years. He quit school to join the U.S. Merchant Marine and later served a hitch with the army. He was discharged in 1950.
He said he decided to join the rebels after he learned a former army buddy had been killed by Cuban secret police while delivering arms to the rebels late in 1957.
After a brief visit in Toledo he went to Cuba and began helping train the rebel forces.
The guerilla fighter said he met one other American in Cuba in the revolution.
“A fellow—I’ve forgotten his name—came to me in the mountains and said he was a Toledoan,” he recalled. “He told me he was a reporter, but he was a soldier of fortune. He was an agent for Batista.
He declined any comment on what happened to the man after it was discovered he was an agent for the recently overthrown Cuban dictator.
The rebel major denied being, in any sense, a soldier of fortune.
“I don’t get paid,” he said. “I haven’t been given a dime since I’ve been here.”
“These people,” he said, “have been fighting for things we take for granted in the United States. They wanted their freedom.”
Asked about his political feelings, he said:
“I’m an American. We have no Communists here in Cuba. We don’t want any and we’re not going to have any.”
Events of the past few weeks were hectic, the Cienfuegos commandant related. He said he hadn’t slept in the past two days and only six hours in the past week.
“I’m going to shave, get cleaned up and take a nice long sleep,” he said.
He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Morgan, 2909 Collingwood Blvd. His wife, Theresa, whom he married in Miami in 1954, and two children also are in Toledo.