by José de la Isla
HOUSTON : On May 1, Mexico President Felipe Calderón commemorated the 62nd anniversary of his country’s 201st Air Squadron.
During World War II the unit saw action in the Pacific as part of the Allied Forces.
This year marks the first time a Mexican chief executive has participated in a public event commemorating the squadron. Delivering a policy speech, Calderón only tangentially referred to the occasion.
German submarines had torpedoed two Mexican ships in the Gulf of Mexico before our neighbor’s entry into the war. An anti-submarine air patrol was formed to hunt German U-boats. In May 1943, Mexico severed relations with the Axis powers following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Then in 1944, Mexico sent Un presidente y un caballo rinden tributo al Escuadrón 201the air squadron to attach with General Douglas MacArthur’s intended invasion of the Philippine Islands, as well as other missions.
There are many stories about the Escuadrón 201, passed on mostly as family lore. An airman once told me how, near the end of their mission, the members serving in the Philippine jungles melted down Coke bottles to sculpt a statue of an eagle and serpent, Mexico’s national symbol, to etch their role.
As an adolescent, I would have paid little attention to the details except for the fact that my mother’s relatives in California had a connection to the squadron.
Tradition at public events has for six decades, as it was following President Calderón’s speech, to call the roll for the eight fallen squadron members. Lt. Javier Martínez Valle, my mother’s cousin, is one of them.
Back then, Mexico was part of North America’s first line of defense if an invasion came. Today, the very idea of a Security and Prosperity overlay to the North American Free Trade Agreement is looked upon with suspicious eyes by some in our country. Any notion of reliance on Mexico is outlandish.
How much they don’t know! Sometimes important events are removed from public view for political convenience.
It’s as if history is a movie and we are the extras in it. But when you know what happened, it’s another story.
About ten years ago, a contingent of the octogenarian 201st Squadron came to Houston to march in a Memorial Day parade. At a restaurant in the East End, a member of the Jewish WWII Veterans’ Committee showed up to pay his respects. A nephew of Colonel Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez, the wing commander, attended. He related an anecdote about how his uncle had been an observer of Nazi movements in North Africa with Wild Bill Donovan, founder of the United States’ modern intelligence community.
At a wreath ceremony in Hidalgo Park, a small crowd, mostly too young to have lived the history, showed up after hearing on the radio about the squadron members’ presence. Perhaps remembering their parents’ tales about the Mexican Air Corps participating in missions with the Flying Tigers, they wanted verification.
A cowboy arrived at the park on horseback. His steed bent and bowed in front of the airmen and the flags and the guide-on banners.
Even a horse knows how to pay homage. It was a simple gesture, but even better than that of a southern president with an agenda. It was an act superior to any northern president who fails Ñ except in secret sessions Ñ to recognize how our national security depends on friendship and the alliance with our neighbor nations.
Maybe our public attitude has hit a low because such stories aren’t made public.
That’s sad. It gives the current crop of presidential candidates a chance to drive a bigger wedge for career advancement.
[José de la Isla, author of “The Rise of Hispanic Political Power” (Archer Books, 2003) writes a weekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. E-mail: joseisla3@yahoo.com].
