Remembering the Deportees By Name
Deportees
The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They’re flying ’em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesús y María;
You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be “deportees”
These are the opening lyrics of a historic song “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos Canyon)” written by American folk singer Woody Guthrie and recorded by many musicians, including Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary, Kingston Trio, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan and others.
Guthrie wrote the song about the 28 Mexican farm workers who died in a 1948 plane crash near Coalinga in Fresno County, as they were being deported from this country. A description of the crash includes this horrendous account: “… witnesses noticed the plane trailing white smoke from one of its engines when the left wing suddenly ripped off, spilling several passengers out of a large hole in the fuselage before the plane caught fire and spiraled to the ground, exploding in a ball of fire.” (Luis du Mort, Find a Grave, Deportee Plane Crash)
National newspaper and radio reports identified the four American crewmembers who perished but did not bother to name the Mexican victims other than identifying them as deportees. They were buried in a mass grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Fresno.
This disregard for the value of life, this indifference towards the vital contribution people make to keep our country and its communities thriving, seems to be repeating 76 years later as we hear vicious political condemnation of immigrants whether Mexican, Haitian, or anything other than the desired status quo. The current threat of mass deportation made by one Presidential candidate brought this incident and Guthrie’s song back to my memory.
Contemporary author and professor, Tim Z. Hernandez, has taken on the goal of identifying and honoring the Mexican crash victims in his 2017 book “All They Will Call You.” He researched, interviewed, and traveled within the United States and Mexico to meet family members of those who perished. His work documents the disaster as well as the workers’ personal stories. Hernandez’ 2024 follow-up book, “They Call You Back,” reveals his own family’s farm worker history and fulfills his desire to restore dignity to all. Hopefully, he will visit Northern California as he tours to promote his book.
Having grown up in the San Joaquin Valley myself, as the descendant of grape pickers and cannery workers, I was drawn to this story. Through Hernandez’ efforts, a headstone was dedicated at the mass grave in 2013, which included the names of all 28 workers. In September 2024, a stone marker was dedicated near the Coalinga crash site. It bears the inscription “Forevermore We Will Call You By Name.”
They are: Miguel Negrete Álvarez, Tomás Aviña de Gracia, Francisco Llamas Durán, Santiago García Elizondo, Rosalío Padilla Estrada, Tomás Padilla Márquez, Bernabé López Garcia, Salvador Sandoval Hernández, Severo Medina Lára, Elías Trujillo Macías, José Rodriguez Macías, Luis López Medina, Manuel Calderón Merino, Luis Cuevas Miranda, Martin Razo Navarro, Ignacio Pérez Navarro, Román Ochoa Ochoa, Ramón Paredes González, Guadalupe Ramírez Lára, Apolonio Ramírez Placencia, Alberto Carlos Raygoza, Guadalupe Hernández Rodríguez, María Santana Rodríguez, Juan Valenzuela Ruiz, Wenceslao Flores Ruiz, José Valdívia Sánchez, Jesús Meza Santos, Baldomero Marcas Torres.
The American crewmembers were Francis C. Atkinson, Marion H. Ewing, Lillian K. Atkinson, and Frank E. Chaffin.
All these people matter.
