The Aztec Eagles
Mexican squadron played significant role in victory in Pacific
EL CENTRO — There’s an apocryphal story (likely one of hundreds) about Gen. Douglas MacArthur during World War II and the conflict with Japan in the Pacific. Asked about what he needed to defeat the enemy, MacArthur allegedly replied, “Send me more Mexicans.”
Bob Hayes, a former state assemblyman, an amateur historian and owner of the Gun Shop, 510 Broadway, can’t vouch for the truth of that story, but he said he does know MacArthur thought highly of his Mexican allies, who consisted primarily of a single fighter squadron and their support personnel based in Manila, the Philippines.
The 201st Squadron of the Mexican Air Force, also known as the Aztec Eagles, consisted of about 30 pilots and 18 P-47 Thunderbolt fighterbombers. It was assigned to bombing Japanese targets in the Philippines, which facilitated the advancement of the U.S. infantry.
Mario Jesús Beltrán Mainero, communications director with the Mexican Consulate in Calexico, said the squadron is credited with 59 combat missions. Five pilots were killed in action, and the squadron was awarded the Philippine Liberation Medal after the war.
In another likely apocryphal story about the “Panchito Pistoles,” as they liked to call themselves, it’s said Japanese fliers got to a point where they were so disheartened when they saw the national colors of Mexico on a plane’s tail, they wouldn’t engage.
Hayes can’t swear that one’s true, either. But one thing that is true is that when he was in the Assembly, he was a lead sponsor of a resolution by the Joint Rules Committee of the Senate and the Assembly honoring the 201st Squadron for its “outstanding record of military comradeship which it provided during the close of World War II” and expressing “their sincere appreciation for the inestimable impact which it had on the battle in which it participated.”
The resolution passed Sept. 5, 1979.
Today marks the 77th anniversary of the Japanese Navy’s aerial attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor. The U.S. response to that day and the years of war that followed are well chronicled, but Hayes said he thought many readers might be surprised to learn of Mexico’s role in the war, particularly that of the 201st Squadron.
It was only two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor that Mexico cut diplomatic ties with Japan. It did the same with Germany and Italy on Dec. 11.
On May 22, 1942, German submarines sank two Mexican oil tankers. On June 1, the Mexican Congress, after reviewing a petition by President Manuel Ávila Camacho, declared war against the Axis powers.
Mexico initially limited it participation to supplies and economic assistance. However, Beltrán said, as the war raged on, it became clear that Mexico had to participate militarily in some manner.
“In July 1944, Mexico authorized the deployment of its troops to fight in a war beyond its borders for the first time in history,” he said.
Thirty-eight pilots, four weapons officers and 249 infantry men from all branches of the armed services were selected to train in the military base in Majors Field, Texas, for specialized training before going to the battlefront.
The squadron and support personnel departed from its final training station in Pittsburgh on March 27, 1945, bound for the Philippines.