The Aztec Eagles and the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force:

How Mexico and the United States Built an Enduring Alliance During the Second World War

A series of historical presentations sponsored by the Consulate of Mexico,
Air Art Northwest Fine Art and the Mexican Center of Oregon

featuring special guest

Capitan P.A. Reynaldo Perez Gallardo

"Aztec Eagle" fighter pilot, World War II hero
and Commander of the legendary Fighter Squadron 201

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Thursday, October 9, 2003 at 2:00 p.m.

Portland State University
Vanport Room, Smith Center
Portland, Oregon

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Thursday, October 9, 2003 at 6:00 p.m.

Consulate of Mexico
1234 S.W. Morrison Street
Portland, Oregon

Additional special guests (this event only):

Friedrich E. Schuler, Ph.D.
Professor of History, Portland State University
Author, "Mexico - Between Hitler and Roosevelt"

Jack Fellows, ASAA
Noted historical fine artist
Founder, American Society of Aviation Artists

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Friday, October 10, 2003 at 11:30 a.m.

Pacific University
Jefferson Auditorium 221
Forest Grove, Oregon

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Saturday, October 11, 2003 at 12:00 noon

Evergreen Aviation Museum
Main Auditorium
McMinnville, Oregon

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Celebrating:

The release of Strike of the Aztec Eagles!, a special edition of
fine art lithographs signed by the distinguished aviators of the
Mexican Expeditionary Air Force and honoring their legacy in history.

For more information, please contact:
Air Art Northwest  –  503-359-0424  –  www.airartnw.com

Background

Prior to the Second World War, the relationship between the Mexico and the United States was characterized by limited commercial activity and marginal political and public relations. Resentment lingering from the U.S. - Mexican War of 1847 and subsequent incursions - felt by many Mexicans - and anger in the United States over the expropriation of American oil properties in Mexico, fueled mutual distrust and suspicion.

Following a groundbreaking summit conference at Monterrey, Mexico in 1943 between United States president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and President Manuel Avila Camacho, the Mexican president committed Mexico to participate with the Allies in World War II. By presidential order, with permission from the Senate, an elite unit of top aviators was formed, trained and sent into combat in the Far East. This participation of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force - the only military force ever to serve outside Mexico - was highly successful and it, in conjunction with Mexico's contribution of labor and materiel to the war effort, led to better relations and unprecedented economic cooperation and friendship between both countries. The unit's training in the U.S. and deployment overseas were covered intensely by the news media in both countries, fomenting a new sense of binational solidarity between the Mexican and American peoples.

The flight operations component of the unit - Fighter Squadron 201 - helped to liberate the Philippines from the brutal wartime Japanese occupation and represented Mexico with honor and valor. The pilots were decorated by the governments of Mexico, the Philippines and the U.S. and are still considered national heroes in Mexico. The pilots became known in the Mexican press as "Eagle Fighters" and "Aztec Eagles" an historical reference to the elite warriors of the ancient Aztec state. Of the 31 pilots who flew for Mexico and the Allies in World War II, seven never returned. Just ten of these legendary aviators remain alive today.

The son of a distinguished General of the Revolution of 1910-1917 who later served as Governor of the state of San Luis Potosi, Captain Perez was born on August 10, 1923 in the city of San Luis Potosi and grew up in the turbulent years that followed the revolution. Educated in Mexico and the United States, Captain Perez became fluent in English at an early age. He acquired a love for aviation from the Army pilots at a military camp where his family was stationed. Follwing his father's footsteps, he served as an infantry soldier in the Mexican Army in the 1930's, defending the constitutional government against the rebel forces of Saturnino Cedillo, distinguishing himself in combat. He then attended and graduated from, the prestigious Mexican Military Academy - the West Point of Mexico - attaining the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and serving as a Cavalry officer. During this time, he was admitted to the Military Aviation School at Guadalajara. He then led a group of aviation cadets to the United States for advanced military flight training and proudly received his pilot's wings from the U.S. Army Air Force in early 1944. He returned to Mexico as a flight instructor in the Mexican Air Force.

In July, 1944, rated one of the top fighter pilots in the Mexican Air Force, he was chosen by was chosen by President Manuel Avila Camacho to join a select group of Mexican pilots to form an elite composite aviation unit destined to become Fighter Squadron 201 (Escuadron Aereo de Pelea 201) at Mexico City. With great publicity on both countries, the unit was sent to air bases in Idaho and Texas for eight months of advanced tactical combat training and instruction in U.S. Army Air Force operating protocol. Upon graduation in February, 1945, the Squadron, now part of the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force, was sent to the Philippines by order of President Avila Camacho. It was the only military force in history to leave Mexico on a fighting mission. There the unit was attached to the United States 5th Air Force, in May, 1945, where it flew close air support missions, providing vital assistance to American and Filipino ground forces in the liberation of the main island of Luzon from the Japanese occupation. In addition to tactical close air support missions, Lt. Perez was one of the few pilots selected to fly hazardous Very Long Range missions to strike targets on the Japanese-occupied Chinese island of Formosa (now Taiwan). He also took part in a particularly dangerous bombing mission to knock out a bridge over the Marikina River, east of Manila, to slow the retreating forces of General Yamashita. Lieutenant Perez flew 26 combat missions plus training, reconnaissance and ferry flights. He and his fellow pilots were scheduled to participate in the invasion of Japan, but World War II ended in September, 1945 with the dropping of the atomic bombs, and the men came home.

The Expeditionary Air Force was highly decorated and received congratulations on its success from General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied forces in the Pacific Theater a Presidential Unit Citation from the Philippine Secretary of Defense and many other honors. Every aspect of its deployment and combat operations was covered in the Mexican press and in the United States news media and its pilots became national heroes in Mexico. Today, Mexican schoolchildren still learn about the Aztec Eagles of Squadron 201 and a school built in their honor stands in Tepoztlan, Morelos.

Lieutenant Perez Gallardo and his companions in Squadron 201 came home to a hero's welcome on November 18, 1945, when they were honored and personally congratulated by President Avila Camacho in a national ceremony in the historic Plaza de la Constitucion in Mexico City in front of hundreds of thousands of cheering citizens, in a ceremony that was broadcast live by radio throughout Mexico. He and his fellow pilots were decorated by the President with the Medalla Por Servicio en el Lejano Oriente - a special medal that was the only decoration ever awarded for foreign combat by Mexican military personnel. He also received the Air Medal from 5th Air Force Commander General George Kenney, with Citation signed by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. A beautiful monument honoring the seven pilots who were killed serving their country was erected near Chapultepec Castle, not far from the Monument to the Ninos Heroes in Mexico City; there is also a monument to the fallen Mexican pilots in downtown Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

In 1946, Lieutenant Reynaldo Perez Gallardo was promoted to Captain and given command of Fighter Squadron 201. He led the unit for five years, recruiting and training new pilots for Squadron 201 and other squadrons in the Mexican Air Force, serving at air bases in Mexico City and Vera Cruz. He proudly flew his personal P-47 fighter aircraft, which bore his apodo or nickname, "Panchito".

Captain Perez left the Air Force in 1951 and began a career in civil aviation and transportation in Mexico and the United States that included service as a corporate pilot, airshow work, a transportation assignment with PEMEX, the Mexican oil agency and work as a civil aeronautics accident investigator. He also managed the aerial reconnaissance of narcotics growers' operations for the government in the state of Michoacan, bringing his total logged flight hours to 12, 736. In the mid-1960's he was hired as Chief of Security for the National Institute of Social Security, in charge of some 600 officers and administrative personnel. He served in that capacity until moving to the United States in 1984. Captain Perez is now semiretired and lives with his wife in Austin, Texas, where he owns a successful trucking company; his children and grandchildren reside nearby. He is the founder of the Binational Society of Military History and is the subject of a television miniseries based his life currently being filmed in Texas. The City of Austin recently honored him for his work in giving presentations and lectures on U.S.-Mexico history to schools, civic groups, government organizations and military units, by declaring a special "Reynaldo Perez Gallardo Day" on March 6, 2003.

Doctor Friedrich Schuler is one of the world's preeminent authorities on Mexican history and foreign relations, particularly Mexico-United States relations during the era of Cardenismo that preceded World War II.

Doctor Schuler received his Ph. D. from the University of Chicago. He has traveled extensively in Mexico and Latin America and is fluent in Spanish, German and English. He is currently Professor of History and Latin American Studies at Portland State University. Doctor Schuler has authored articles for numerous books and journals, including the chapter "Mexico and the Outside World" in the recently-published Oxford History of Mexico.

He was awarded the first Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American Studies' Michael Meyer Award for the Outstanding Book on Mexico for his superb volume, Mexico - Between Hitler and Roosevelt, an analysis of Mexican foreign relations during the administration of President Lazaro Cardenas, 1934-1940. The book, according to the Award committee, "...meticulously demonstrates the ways in which Mexico's leaders simultaneously asserted national sovereignty, consolidated internal revolutionary gains and actively participated in international affairs...".

Jack Fellows is a world-recognized aeronautical artist with an extensive fine arts background. He is an Artist Fellow member of the American Society of Aviation Artists and a signature member of the Pastel Society of America. Although a graduate of a commercial art school, most of Mr. Fellows's career has been spent behind an easel as a realist painter working with galleries, publishers, museums and competitions. His paintings had, as subject matter, primarily figures and landscapes until 1987, when aviation subjects began to appear in his work. Since then he has released a number of limited-edition prints of historical aviation themes and has a large following of collectors who purchase his prints and original paintings.

Aviation was a major factor shaping Mr. Fellows's perception from the very beginning. His father worked with other Boeing aviation pioneers in Seattle, his native city. Besides being an accomplished fine artist, he is also an expert aviation historian, specializing in the Southwest Theater of Operations in World War II. He has won many awards during his career, most recently the Founders Award from the American Society of Aviation Artists. The first book of his paintings, titled War in Pacific Skies was recently released to critical acclaim. His most recent edition of lithographs, Strike of the Aztec Eagles! was published by Air Art Northwest in Portland, Oregon. It is the first bilingual (English-Spanish) fine art print edition by a major artist ever published and the only one depicting and commemorating the role of Mexico in the Second World War.

A native of Portland, Oregon, Sig Unander holds a Batchelor's Degree in Political Science from Pacific University and is completing a postbaccalaureate degree in Latin American Studies at Portland State University. He has served as an elected and appointed official, has worked in public affairs and journalism and is fluent in Spanish. He owns a business that distributes and publishes historical fine art. He recently published the first limited edition of lithographs by a major artist about Mexico's famous Squadron 201, titled "Strike of the Aztec Eagles!" He is currently writing a book about Mexico and the United States as allies in the Second World War, which will be published next year.

Is the only fine art edition of lithographs by a world-class fine artist ever published, that depicts Mexican aviation and Mexican participation in World War II. It is also the only fine art edition approved by the Association of Mexican World War II Veterans and the only artwork personally approved and autographed by the surviving pilots of the legendary Squadron 201. Only 500 lithographs were individually signed in Mexico by all eleven pilots who were living at the time of the signing ceremonies, making them ultra-rare fine art pieces.

A six-year project by historian, fine art publisher and writer Sig Unander, Jr., the composition of the original painting was painstakingly rendered by noted historical artist Jack Fellows, ASAA, based on Mr. Unander's interviews with the pilots, documentation from the pilots and from archives in Mexico and the United States, and very rare wartime photographs. The edition was printed in Portland and transported to Mexico City, where Captain Perez joined his fellow pilots in a special signing ceremony. Individual signings were held in the homes of other pilots in Puebla and Campeche, Mexico. The title of the print echoes the profound symbolism of the eagle in Aztec warrior mythology and postconquest Mexican culture and it honors the brave Mexican pilots who represented their country and the Allied nations in mankind's greatest conflict.

More than just a beautiful fine art print, Strike of the Aztec Eagles! is an historical document intended to preserve the legacy of Mexico's role in World War II for future generations of Mexicans and Americans and to symbolize the important binational solidarity that developed between our countries during the war years. Copies of the signed lithographs have been presented to Mexican President Vicente Fox Quesada and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Prints have been donated to major museums in Mexico and the United States and to many educational, charitable and cultural organizations and scholarship funds that benefit Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

Proceeds of sales of Strike of the Aztec Eagles! lithographs during Captain Perez's appearances in Portland will be donated to benefit the Mexican Center of Oregon, a nonprofit organization that fosters intercultural exchange and education between Mexico and the United States. The artwork, and accompanying archival photographs and documents, will be displayed during a presentation at the Mexican Consulate in Portland on October 9th, 2003 that will begin at 6:00 p.m. A reception will follow. The public is invited to attend.

For further information, please contact:

Sig Unander. Jr.
Air Art Northwest Fine Arts
Telephone: 503-359-0424
Fax: 503-357-4647
E-mail: airart@arcnet.com