Morgan to Fight Attempt to Strip U.S. Citizenship

Yanks in Rebel Army Endanger Citizenship

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (AP)—Any United States citizen who has remained with the revolutionary forces of Cuba since Jan. 22, 1959, is subject to loss of his citizenship, a State Department official said today.

This commentary was given after Francis E. Walter, Democratic Representative of Pennsylvania, said the State Department had informed him that a certificate of loss of United States citizenship had been issued for William Morgan.

Morgan, had served as a Major in the Cuban Army.

Walter, who is Chairman of the House Immigration Committee, said the Department also informed him that any United States citizen who has “entered the regular or irregular forces of Cuba will be considered as having lost his United States citizenship.”

Claims He’s Never Been In Castro Army

Major William Alexander Morgan, Toledo-Born hero of the Cuban revolution and recently smashed conspiracy, last night expressed indignation at reports the State Department has decided to revoke his US citizenship and said he would fight any attempt to enforce such a decision in American courts.

Morgan told a Havana Post reporter: “I had the good fortune to be born in the United States, and I’m not going to lose my US citizenship.”

Morgan’s home was sprayed by bullets Wednesday night by gunmen from a passing car.

Chairman Francis Walter of the House Immigration Committee said early yesterday the State Department had decided to revoke Morgan’s US citizenship under an Act forbidding American citizens to serve in the Armed Forces of another country.

The ex-paratrooper denied he was ever a member of the Castro Army. He declared he was a member of the “Segundo Frente Escambray,” another rebel group which—he said—has never been inducted into the Castro force. He added: “I can’t go back to the States right now because I can’t carry a gun any—and know I need to carry a gun.”

Morgan said he was never a member of the Cuban Armed Forces and that he has never been paid by them. He further stated that although the Castro government had granted him citizenship several months ago “I have never accepted that citizenship and I have never sworn allegiance to Cuba.”