Mexico in WWII
The Second World War officially began on September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Soon, countries around the world divided into two forces known as the Allies and the Axis Powers. The Allies were originally made up of such countries as Poland, Great Britain, and France. Through the signing of the Tripartite Act, Germany, Italy, and Japan joined to form the Axis Powers. War continued until 1945, pulling countries from all over the world into the fighting. The United States joined the Allies after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Following the United States’ declaration of war on the Axis Powers, German U-boats set out for the Gulf of Mexico in order to disrupt shipping supplies. In May of 1942 German U-boats sunk two Mexican ships, El Morendo and La Faja de Oro. Soon after these attacks Mexican President Manuel Avila Camacho declared war on Germany, joining the Allies. Camacho’s main objective was to aid the Americans in the war. Mexico’s greatest contribution to the war was Escuadron 201, a flight squad that is still a great source of pride to Mexicans today. Though Mexico experienced few casualties in comparison to the United States, the effects of the war, were still felt by its people in everyday life.
My grandmother, Josefina Garcia, was twelve-years old in 1940. She lived in San Juan del Rio, a small village on the outskirts of Mexico City. As the middle child of three girls and one boy, Josefina remembers seeing young Mexican soldiers marching through the streets of San Juan in uniform on her way to school. These soldiers provided a form of entertainment for Josefina and her sisters, Carmen and Anita, “We would often fight about which one of the soldiers we thought was the cutest.” The Garcias, a middle class family, owned a radio, but in order to protect his girls from the war, Josefina’s father never turned the radio on.
In 1941, the Garcias moved to Mexico City to set up a restaurant. It was a simple restaurant that served typical local food such as rice, beans, soup, milk, and dessert. Since European delicacies such as chocolate, butter, and wine were rare, desserts were simple dishes that didn’t require these European ingredients. Though the better half of the world was economically suffering due to the war, Josefina claims that the restaurant always had customers and that often, “There would be a line waiting to get in.” Customers became regulars, and the restaurant became well-known in the Garcia’s neighborhood. Josefina’s responsibilities in the restaurant were to go to the market in the morning and tend the tables at night. Living in the city and tending these tables caused Josefina to be more aware of the war overseas. There was a table of regulars that Josefina would tend to every night. These gentlemen came straight from work and would often talk about the war. By listening to their conversations Josefina came to understand that the rest of the world was in turmoil, unlike her beloved home. Josefina would overhear conversations about battles, planes, and casualties, “but I often couldn’t listen for very long because my father would yell at me to tend to the next table.” Though these conversations wizened Josefina as to the situation in the rest of the world they still did not provide sufficient information to provoke fear in her. She was still young and Europe seemed very far away at the time, it never occurred to her that the war would come to Mexico.
The Garcias lived in a small apartment close to their restaurant. Josefina, Anita, and Carmen all shared a room. Every morning before leaving the house, the girls would take turns standing on a chair and drawing thick lines on the back of their legs with eyeliner. These lines were meant to impersonate tights. Tights at the time were a sign of femininity, but were difficult to come by as they were manufactured in Europe and Japan. These lines gave the illusion of tights, which was the best most women in Mexico could do at the time.
In the city every fifteen days there would be power shortages. These shortages, called apagones, were preceded by sirens and were meant to prepare the city for the possibility of bomb raids. Apagones could last anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour and a half, and because they often happened at night, Josefina found it easier to sleep through them. If they happened earlier in the evening, Josefina and her sisters would sit around and talk until they got tired. The Garcia sisters were encouraged by their father to think of these apagones as a game. The war was not talked about in the Garcia household. By cutting off all of the communication by which his daughters could be affected by the gravity of the situation overseas, Josefina and her sisters were protected from the war.
At the beginning of the war, my Grandfather, Alberto Gonzales, was sixteen years old. Being older than my grandmother, he can remember the outrage when the Mexican ships El Morendo and La Faja de Oro were sunk by German U-Boats, “We realized that the war would eventually come to Mexico, but it still came as a shock when the ships were sunk.” Alberto remembers President Camacho’s declaration of war but can’t remember feeling fear because of it, “ I never thought it would directly affect me.” Alberto was more well-versed in the situation overseas than Josefina. Alberto attended school at the time. Most of Alberto’s educators would avoid the topic of war in order to maintain to the lesson plan, but his social studies teacher would often clue his students in about the war. His social studies teacher demanded his student’s give their opinions and explained the causes of the war to Alberto.
The Gonzalez family did not own a television, but at the end of the day, Alberto and his family would often listen to the radio. It was only a matter of time though before his mother would leave the room claiming she had clothes to clean or dishes to scrub. After Mexico joined the war, Alberto didn’t have any feelings of hate toward the German or Japanese people, but the Mexican government felt differently. In Chiapas, a state of Mexico, there was a surplus of German and Japanese people. Suspicious, the Mexican government took the German’s and Japanese’s ranches in 1942 and moved them to quarters where they could be kept under government supervision until the end of the war.
When Alberto was eighteen, he was required by the government to undergo military training. The war was almost over so military training was more intense than typical training. 
Every Sunday for a year, Agustin, his older brother, and Alberto would walk to the nearest military base to report for military training. There they learned how to carry and shoot rifles and work the machinery. Training also consisted of an excess amount of marching, Alberto says, “so much marching made me never want to be a solider.” Luckily, Alberto was never required to fight, since at the time all Mexican soldiers were volunteers. Jose Ortiz, a friend of Alberto’s from down the street, did fight in the war. When Jose was nineteen years old he enlisted in the army and because of his age and military training was assigned to be part of Escuadron 201, Mexico’s greatest contribution to the war effort.
The Second World War manifested the first time America and Mexico joined forces in order to fight a common threat. After President Manuel Avila Camacho declared war on Germany, Escuadron 201 was formed in order to aid the Americans in their fight against Japan. Escuadron 201 was made up of three hundred volunteers who came to call themselves “The Aztec Eagles”, representing the founding fathers of Mexico City. These eagles first underwent training in Texas and were then sent overseas to the fight in the Philippines. The Eagles were only in the Philippines for six months, but in this time period the squadron partook in 59 combat missions, calculating to over 1, 290 hours of flight. The Eagles were a successful pillar in driving the Japanese forces out of the Philippine islands and in the effort to bomb Luzon and Formasa. The contribution of The Aztec Eagles in the war effort resulted in relatively few casualties. When the war finished and the Aztec Eagles returned to their homeland they were received with a great amount of fanfare. While overseas they were a representation of Mexico. Mexico showed its appreciation by granting twelve Aztec Eagles Mexican Medals of Honor. My grandfather’s friend, Jose Ortiz, came back with stories galore to tell his friends, “Jose was the center of attention for months after his return home, but he had a habit of overexaggerating his stories. Jose worked as a crewmen for the planes, but the way he told the stories you would think he was the one in the pilot’s seat.” A year after Jose returned to Mexico he moved and unfortunately Alberto lost touch with him.
The Second World War ended after the American bombings on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945; exactly six years after the war began. After six long years of fighting the world was happy to see the war end. Mexican citizens were affected by the war and were thus overjoyed to see it come to an end. Josefina recalls, “The day the war ended people were running and screaming through the streets. It proved to be a great source of joy that the fighting was finally over.”
Carnes, Mark C. The American Nation. Ed. Ashley Dodge. Ed. 11th ed. New York: New York, 2003.
Garcia, Josefina. Personal Interview. 24 April 2006.
Gonzalez, Alberto. Personal Interview. 24 April 2006.
Schmal, John P. “Hispanics in Military Service” Hispanic Experience. 20 April 2006 http://www.houstonculture.org/hispanic/memorial.html
Stall, Buddy. “German Sub Patrol Gulf of Mexico”. 28 September 2006. 20 April 2006. http://clarionherald.org/20000928/stall.htm
By: Amanda M. Russell