THE man who cleaned graffiti from a memorial commemorating the men who fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War has told The National.

Steve McGowan took his son on a trip to Duchess of Hamilton Park in Motherwell where the pair cleaned off graffiti from the memorial.

It was erected in 2012 and commemorates the 40 North Lanarkshire volunteers who “gave up everything … for the cause of all advanced and progressive mankind”.

The volunteers joined others from the UK as part of the International Brigade that travelled to Spain to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.

Images submitted to The National by a reader showed the memorial covered in graffiti reading “Franco” and “vermin”, as well as fascist symbols.

The National:

McGowan said that he first saw the graffiti through images posted to Twitter on Saturday morning.

He said: "I take my son on a cycle every week and it just so happened that we were actually planning a trip to this park that day anyway. 

"Seeing the fascist symbols on the memorial made me angry and that sort of rhetoric isn't something that sits well with me. So that morning I looked up what can take spray paint off walls, got some of that and headed down as it was an opportunity to teach my son about right and wrong.

"We go on cycles all the time but this was not a normal Saturday."

READ MORE: Why vandalism of memorial to Scots who fought in Spanish Civil War is shameful

He said that the whole job took just under two hours and was glad he was able to show explain to his son why vandalism is wrong.

McGowan continued: "I've been going to International Brigade functions since I was about 15 so it's something that's very important to me. I don't expect my son, who turns seven in August, to fully grasp the importance of the memorial, but it was a good opportunity for me to explain to him why it was vandalised, the type of people that did the damage and why it was wrong.

"I want to instil anti-fascist and anti-racist beliefs in my son and while he might not fully understand them right now, it is something I'm keen to keep teaching him about."

Pictures of McGowan and his son (Steven McGowan junior) generated thousands of likes and retweets on Twitter as well as being shared widely elsewhere.

He said he was "totally overwhelmed" by the reaction the pictures received with some generating more than 500,000 impressions.

The original pictures of the clean memorial were posted to Twitter by one of McGowan's friends and he said that he didn't do it for the reaction but "for the greater good".

McGowan jr was wearing a Paris Saint-Germain strip in the pictures and his dad told The National that the team have been in touch to send him some more merchandise.

They have also been contacted by Clapton CFC, a football club based in East London that designed a team strip commemorating the more than 2500 men and women from Britain and Ireland that travelled to fight with the International Brigade.

The club is sending the McGowans some of the shirts following the incredible reaction from the act of community spirit.