31 Facts About Yank Levy

Yank Levy was born in Hamilton, Canada to a Jewish family.

Yank Levy's family moved to Buffalo, New York when he was three months old, later moving to Cleveland, Ohio when he was seven years old.

Yank Levy's parents were Samuel Levy, a tailor and "horse doctor," and Sarah Pollock.

Yank Levy grew up on the streets, stating that his "real education was in the school of hard knocks".

Yank Levy worked with the Kaber Printing Company in Cleveland for four years to help support his younger siblings.

Yank Levy continued boxing through World War I and was the regimental bantamweight champion.

Yank Levy fought in 23 matches before retiring "in order to maintain family harmony".

Yank Levy was a pipe smoker, and played the mandolin.

In 1927, Yank Levy was arrested with four other men and a woman for a series of robberies.

Yank Levy served in five wars and insurrections between 1911 and 1945.

Yank Levy trained in Nova Scotia, England, and Egypt, later being dispatched as a machine gunner.

In 1921, Yank Levy was employed to train Mexicans in the use of the Lewis gun.

Yank Levy left 6 months later when some trainees used their guns on prisoners.

Yank Levy claimed to have participated in "troubles" in countries south of Mexico, once being sentenced to thirty years imprisonment for gun running.

Yank Levy was captured at the Battle of Jarama by the Guardia Civil, where he had manned a heavy machine gun.

At the outbreak of World War II, Yank Levy tried to enlist with the Canadian Army, but was refused due to his flat feet and hammer toes.

Yank Levy worked alongside these other veterans on Home Guard training, and was involved in the establishment of an unofficial training school, funded in part by Wendell Endicott for the Guard at Osterley Park, where his lectures were well received.

Wintringham said that Yank Levy was the most effective communicator in Great Britain on the tactics of commando and guerrilla warfare.

Yank Levy was a committed Socialist, which influenced his goals, his analyses, and the presentation of his work.

Yank Levy compared Home Guard guerrilla forces to historical resistance, such as Hereward the Wake's opposition to William the Conqueror, and pointed to the Arab Revolt and Orde Wingate's Special Night Squads in Mandatory Palestine as examples of effective irregular forces.

Yank Levy suggested fictional accounts of guerrilla warfare could provide valuable insights, referencing Ernie O'Malley's On Another Man's Wound, Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Edgar Snow's Scorched Earth.

Under the direction of General Sherman Miles, who was commanding the First Corps, Yank Levy taught 30 Regular Army and 76 National Guard soldiers, training them to act as partisans in Concord, Massachusetts.

Yank Levy taught the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers in Canada, as he felt that they needed more than home grown expertise.

Yank Levy was a trainer of forces at Nanaimo, Vancouver Island that were going to invade the Aleutian Islands in Operation Cottage.

Yank Levy gave a successful US lecture tour and had his face pictured on the cover of Life Magazine, proclaiming him as an Ace Guerrilla and having a multipage story titled How to be a Guerrilla.

Yank Levy lectured on the Home Guard and the tactics of insurgency.

In 1946, Yank Levy sought to go to Palestine, filing a passport request with the US federal government.

Yank Levy's request was denied ostensibly because of potential diplomatic problems associated with his championing guerrilla warfare and "dirty tricks" that he taught to the Home Guard.

Yank Levy's lawyer invoked Levy's chronic arthritis and penury, his law-abiding conduct with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles, and his list of good works in contributing to the war effort.

Yank Levy was represented by Hanley Rubensohn, a Philadelphia attorney, who said that Levy wanted to wipe out the only blot on his record, so that he could live in peace.

Yank Levy suffered a heart attack in 1965 which led to his death and the derailment of a planned biography based on his memorabilia and correspondence, with writer Don Dwiggins; as of 2014, this source material survives in Los Angeles.