The 1948 Los Gatos Crash

0:08 Hi, everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is Estodia's Unknown, a podcast where we talk about Latin American history. Sometimes it's horrible and deals with Tybee topics like this is a corruption and genocide, but more than that, it's also about resistance, power and community. And we are recording again because Carmen did something hit the space bar. I pressed the space bar, Yeah, deleted her entire recording. Yeah, so this is not new information to her now, Yeah, but she's going to pretend. I'll do my best. Yeah. So today it was such a good start too, not just kidding. No, it was a mess anyway, So it's true.

0:51 It was a mess. Okay, it was a mess. So maybe it's better that we're starting over because you could hear my children, so you might hear them, but you might hear them less right now. So yeah, today I will be telling you about the worst plane crash in California history. It happened in nineteen forty eight in Los Gatos. Thirty two people died, but twenty eight of those people went unnamed for decades, and we'll find out why. I am talking about the nineteen forty eight Los Gatos crash and this was all inspired by an Instagram posts that Kreminson me it was by Kultura movement. They shared pictures of a monument that will be placed September of this year, twenty twenty four. And it also coincides with the celebration of a book, They Call You Back, by Tim Hernandez, and this book is about those twenty eight unnamed victims of the crash. Tim Hernandez spent fourteen years of his life finding the names of all the Mexican victims of the plane crash, as well as finding their families, and so he released one book before this, called all They.

1:58 Will Call You Oh. He wrote that in twenty seventeen, and that book is the journey of finding the first the families, the first seven that he found. Oh wow, the seven families. And is this is They Will Call You Back like a continuation or does it include like the earlier I think it kind of includes both, but also a bunch of new information. Oh okay, yeah, I would say more like a continuation. It's also such an emotional and spiritual book. I almost want to email them and be like, will you come and talk about your paranormal experiences? Because really he talks about in the book, and again, this is something everyone should read because it's just it's so good.

2:42 He just has such a way of talking about his own life, what led him to even wanting to investigate this and why it's like a calling to him, but also tying it to police brutality which affects affected him and his family member of also generational trauma. He talks about the Walmart shooting of an Abasso in twenty nineteen. It's like all the things we I don't want to say we love talking about because they are like heavy, heavy things, but honestly, yeah, yeah, things that we feel called to share, passionate. Yes, And he talks about how he feels like they ask him in the book like his methodology of like how he found all this, and he was like, I think it makes no sense. How do I tell them about the methodology of ghosts?

3:29 Because he Wow, it. Says they called me they I could feel them, I could see them. Wow. So that's why he needed that, Yeah, yeah, and yeah, so that's what the book is about. His journey for the other fourteen family members that he found of the victims of the plane crash, and the book, I mean it's a little pricey because I think it's one of those like special release books that are only like you want university press. So it was like thirty something dollars, oh wow, the ebook. But it sounds like it's worth it. It is completely worth it, and I think the paperback hardcover was a similar price. Anyway, I just wanted it immediately. I didn't want to wait for shipping. Yeah, so that's why I got it on the e book. But before I get into you know, the plane crash, more into the book, I want to talk about the Barracelo program, the twenty eight Mexicans that went unnamed. They were part of the Bracero program. So in case anyone doesn't know the Barcelo program, it was established by an executive order the Mexican Farm Labor Program. This was basically an agreement between the United States and Mexico which allowed Mexican men to work legally in the US under short term labor contracts, usually sent to farms or railroad work. So really it was like California, Texas, and then like the what do they call it, like the Panhandle, like Oklahoma.

4:54 I don't know what they call it. So Oklahoma, the farm areas of Washington. So like Yakama, Oh, I keep saying Oklahoma because it's like the only other kings that I don't know farm labor. Let's move on. Yeah, fine, okay. So that's where the people on the Basseto program were sent to. And this was done because during World War Two there was labor shortages in the US due to World War Two. That's where all the men were and there was no one to work do the hard labor. In the US. And also there were mass deportations of the people that were doing farm labor in the US during the Great Depression, which also included the mass deportation of Mexican Americans. And that's one reason why they needed the Brasseto program right to replace the people. Yeah, manpower from both World War Two and those mass deportations that happened during the Great Depression.

5:50 And the Bracelo program ended in nineteen sixty four. During its run, more than four million Brassettos were brought to work on farms and railroads, including our great grandfather Mivelo. Yes. I asked her mom if she knows where he was sent to in the United States, and she doesn't know, So yeah, hard to say, but oh, okay, I could have wanted at some point she still California. But maybe I imagine that then you. Probably imagined it. Oh wait, hold on, she just sent something else. Oh no, masma querloke los traian and Cameona la Pisca Aldon. So yeah, she just remembers that he went on a bus and that he was farming. Is that word farming? Pegging cotton? Oh, peggin cotton.

6:41 Oh okay, so Mississippi. There was a lot of cotton farmers. But I don't know where the brasseros were sent Oklahoma, Texas. Maybe I definitely want to look further into it. Yeah. All we do know is that he told her mom when she said she was going to leave Mexico and head north to the United States, he told her why it's so ugly there. He was like, oh no, honey, it's so hideous. Yeah, that's all we know about his time as a brascilo. We'll find out more more to come on that. And there was an agreement between the United States and Mexico that there was a set of protocols that would protect brasseros from discrimination and poor wages in the US and the US of course didn't like at all.

7:25 Maintain that promise per huge. Yeah, not a surprise because Brasseros were subjective to discrimination. They were charged extra for room and board, their pay was deducted, and they were exposed to deadly chemicals. That's how they were cleaned because they were considered dirty, which we did talk about that a little bit in the Bath Riots episode. Yeah, and maybe one of the eugenics ones. I'm not sure, probably like briefly. Yeah. So now onto the plane crash. On a cold winter morning, January twenty eighth, nineteen forty eight, a DC three planes departed from Oakland, California, heading to El Centro, California. The plane was carrying thirty two people and as it flew over Los Gato's Canyon, the plane crashed.

8:13 The plane was only supposed to carry twenty six passengers, and probably because they were trying to pack it with Mexicans to deport, they overstuffed it and there was thirty two passengers on board. This included the pilot, co pilot, flight attendant, and the guard for the deportees, and it was so crowded that three passengers were seated. On top of the luggage. There was no seats for them. One hour and forty five minutes after the plane took off, it was seen over the hills of Coolinga flying at an altitude of five thousand feet. That's when around ten thirty am, workers at the Fresno County Industrial Road Camp, which also happened to be prisoners working at the railroads, they saw the plane. I don't know if the word the right word is irony or not, but there's something about prisoners being exploited for their labor witnessing this plane crash of brassetos who were also exploited for their labor and then deported when they, you know, are no longer needed. Yeah, just yeah, there's something there. Yeah, I'm glad you pointed it out. So as they're looking, they can see a trail of white smoke coming from the plane, and there's you know, they're all like, well, what's going on because that's not a normal. So they're staring, and then they see the port wing ripped off. There's a giant hole in the plane. They see as passengers fall out of this giant hole. Terrible, then the plane and it all happened so fast. The plane then caught fire and spiraled down,

9:45 crashing into the Los Gatos Creek as a crash. It exploded into a bot of fire and they immediately they were following the plane and they ran to them to see if there was anyone they could rescue. But no, everyone down on impact because again big explosion. Yeah. Later on it was discovered that there was a fuel leak in the plane's port engine fuel pump. This started a small fire and then the slip stream fanned the flames. In more plane terms, I don't know, but. It made the fire bigger. Yeah, I understood that fire, big bad, No bueno No whenno. It grew into a large fire. Yeah. And so it turns out that it was also discovered that the plane was seven hours late to Oakland because it was like not passing or not receiving a safety inspection.

10:37 If it ever got that safety inspection, or if it was like rushed, who knows. Maybe, So it's possible that it never was never inspected. Something it's never that was never made clear. What was shared or you know, was that it was seven hours late and it was delayed because of a safety inspection, because of some safety issue. And then it also turns out and this is in the book, there was three more planes that same day in Oakland waiting to be packed with more Mexicans to deport. And there's another brassero. He was supposed to be on that plane, and he remembers he was not allowed to board the plane because it was already packed, and he ended up going on a different plane, and so he watched the plane leave and because then he was still stuck there for more hours waiting for their plane to be filled and all that. But I mean, I'm assuming that that is why there were so many people. They just had so many people to deport, so many Mexicans to deport. And then another thing that I found was like an old newspaper that was like the copied into like an old website that's not up anymore, so like it was on the way back machine. So I found this, but it was like in a newspaper that came out from The Times nineteen forty something after the crash, so maybe weeks after, I don't know, around the inspection is when this thing came out. But basically they were like trying to blame the Mexicans that died on the plane crash by saying like, well, usually they're taken by bus

12:08 and they chose to get on the plane instead to get to Mexico faster. So really like who can be blamed for this? Wow, that's ridvol. The summary of that and the seriously. So yeah, the initial reports, like newspaper reports of the flight crash, the plane crash, only named four victims by name, the pilot, co pilot, flight attendant, and the I n S Guard. And again I think I don't remember if I said it, but is the predecessor to ice so that the guards over watching all the other people being deported, So they were Frank Atkinson, Marion Ewing. I think that is how you say that in wiong Bobby Atkinson, wife of Frank Atkinson, she was the flight attendant, and then Frank Chapin, he's the guard. They were the only ones named anywhere. The other twenty eight victims, the Mexican Nationals, went unnamed for decades after the crash, and I mean, you know there's only one reason for that. They just they didn't matter to anyone other than there was local newspapers that did share some of them, but they were in Spanish, so this was still very local, still widely unknown and these twenty eight Mexicans that were being deported, they were all part of the Paraceto program. The fly had been heading to the Ions de Tension in El Centro.

13:28 So they were all buried in one mass grave by day. I mean the twenty Mexicans, not the right, not the four white people. Yeah, they all got nice, you know, they got sent back to their families. They were able to bury their. Loved ones proper burials, yes, proper burials. The Mexican vesselos were all put into the same mass grave. It was eighty four by seven feet with two rows of caskets, and it was marked with only two words Mexican nationals, not a single name. And in a little bit after there were twelve of the twenty eight Mexican passengers identified, still only by local newspapers. Like they went largely unrecognized after the crash. It wasn't until do you know how Woody Guthrie.

14:18 Is a name sounds familiar. Yeah, he's like a. Famous songwriter country Okay, like so, and actually you should look up the song. I'll tell you the name right now. Deportis is like what it's known as. But the full name of the song is plain wreck at Los Gatos. I heard the version by Los Lobos, but I've heard that patch. Oh wait, let's Lobo sing in English? Yes, they do. The writer of the book. He says his favorite version was the Joanne Bias version of the song. Can I play it? You want to play it? Yeah, Dolly Parton saying it.

15:00 Yeah, is that the Virgin you're listening to? No, I haven't listened to it yet. Oh sorry, Yeah, well let me say this first before you play. So he took personal. Woody Guthrie noticed that the Mexican deaths were not reported in the same manner, and he took it personally. Also, he's just a fascinating person. I feel like people should look him up just to read about him. But his father was a member of the k k K. There was a famous lynching in his town in Oklahoma that his father took part in. A black woman and her son were lynched, and his father participated in this, and he basically went like opposite of his father's beliefs. That's amazing, see so. Much so that he went and became a farm worker in Oklahoma and like worked among Mexicans and you know the what were they called, like the o Gee's or something like the white people that also worked the farms in Oklahoma, and yeah, lived worked among them, and you know, wrote poems and songs about them, and like he was very, very progressive for his time.

16:01 Gonna check him out. Yeah, look him up. I couldn't believe when I read this. Okay, I guess I'll listen to his version. He wrote this poem and the song, and then a decade later a school teacher and his friend Martin Hoffman added the melody to it, and then Pete Seeger, a country singer, started to sing it at concerts, and since then it's been covered by Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, The Birds, Joanne Bayez, Los Lobos, Countless, Countless. Okay, I'll play Dolly Parton's version. Dolly Parton, Yeah, okay, man, I kind of finished listening to him the song.

16:42 I was crying too much. I listened to it last night and I was also crying like a maniac. And also the book itself. I could really not stop crying. But yeah, that's the song. I highly highly encourage everyone to please go listen to it. You must, whatever you want, like I had listened to, Los Lobos also made me cry Dolly Parton. I mean, it's all Dolly Parton. I want to listen to the Joanne bias. I'm gonna listen to more versions. Yeah, I'm gonna look up every version. Here are some of the words, but again, nothing does it justice as like hearing listening in. Yeah. Yeah, we just did it crime and cried. I didn't have to stop it. Yeah, she couldn't finish the song. So goodbye to my Juan, Goodbye Rosita, Adios missa, migos, jesus I Maria. You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane. All they will call you will be deporties. That part.

17:38 But I'm just reading. Well, I wasn't balling. Yep, that's I paused it. Yeah. I like to set time for my crime, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, you can't just cry anywhere, you know. Yeah, tim my place. I schedule my breakdowns. Yeah, moving on. Some of us are illegal and some are not wanted. Art work contracts out and we have to move on six hundred miles to that Mexican border. They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves. The skyplane caught fire over Los Gato's canyon a fireball of lightning and shook all our hills. Who are these friends, all scattered like dry leaves? The radio says, they are just Deportiase, is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?

18:28 Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit? To fall like dry leaves, to rot on my top soil, and be called by no name except Deportiase? I don't blink away the tears, I know. I just oh my god, Like I'm telling you, everyone has to listen to the song. And so when the song came out, and I forgot to write down when the song came out, hold on, it was not long after as soon as he heard the crash Actually, yeah, is when he. Wrote it. But it was an until ten years after that that it was sung. Oh okay, And so once it started making waves, that's when that article or newspaper thing I mentioned earlier that was like blaming them forgetting on the plane, but really it's the Mexican's fault, Like, yeah, I cannot.

19:15 So that was written in response to the song. Wow. I just I'm like, wow, that's of course it was. But yeah, seriously, like everyone must must listen to it, and so if it weren't for the work of Tim Hernandez, these people would not be known. He took it upon himself to find the names of every single Mexican that died that day. That's just amazing, and their families and so right now he's been able to find fourteen families. Wow. But he was the one. And again the names were published in Spanish newspapers locally, so he had to go like dig all that information. So we're the fat families notified when the crash happened. Some and this the book goes into it. So some families were notified because of people they knew in the area, because I think a lot of things, or whether we had to remember that immigration, like you know, people migrate in groups from the same town, so a lot of the people saw newspapers because they were all from the same Like people from the same town would end up in the same place working together, so they would be the ones to send the clipping, the newspaper clipping to the families, or they would say I heard about a crash, I haven't seen so and so I think he was on the plane. And so that was the most that these families knew Wow, that's terrible, Like, yeah, there was an obligation from the government to inform Yeah, yeah,

20:45 I'm sure they informed the families of the pilot and the you know what I mean everyone, that same compassion couldn't be extended to these Mexican nationals. And also, like you know, we've said many times, death and bar you. They're like a sacred thing. And to not be able to do that because they don't even know where their families are being buried, or where they were buried, or that they were buried in one mass grave, like, it's terrible. And so he the author the book again, please everyone read it. But he goes into how why he felt called to even do this in the first place, his whole journey. It's just amazing to see how he felt called to find these people and he's still doing it.

21:30 His kids were like babies when he started this work and now and I cried when I read this because now they see it as their work too. They go with. Him, the videograph for him, like interviews, they translate. They it is their work. Too now Like now it makes me think of also, sorry to cut off, it makes me think of also of Ometo and his son, and how his son is continuing Ometo's work too. His uh dog. I think she said she was three or four when he started this, and she's nineteen when the book, this new book came out. Wow, but they. Know why he does it, and they go with him everywhere to do these things. In fact, when the first book came out, All They Will call You. In that book, he chronicles his journey for finding the first seven family members.

22:24 This new book is like, you know the other seven that he has found since. And so in the book, he's talking about the ceremony that was held for the monument that's currently there where they kind of shared the names of everyone. So in this first ceremony, his son is like nine or ten when they're first sharing like the names, and like there's a California senator there, Joanne Bias who has sang this song. She was there. I think it was like four family members that were there as well, and it was just this like big ceremony. And so they're reading the names of all of the victims. And when the first several names are said, he the author tim he hears his son whispering something after every name, and he's like shush and like this is being recorded too, and in the recording in the book, he says, like you can see me at this timestamp, turn to my son and tell him to stop talking, and he keeps going, and at first I don't know what he's saying, but then he realizes that his son is whispering presente after every single name, and then then his son starts saying it a little bit louder. Halfway through the names, he just starts saying it louder, and then everyone in the room joins him and chance presente as he is.

23:45 Every name is being read off stop. Sorry, we had to pause to cry. And again, if people don't understand, it's like to me, I understand this as like a military thing where if someone has usually in affirmation and someone has passed away, their name is called and then you say present there, present, like you know they're still here with you even though they're physically not here anymore. And that's what this nine year old men or ten started doing. And then everyone joins him, and everyone's crying in the room. As we're crying right now, it's just it's it's beautiful because their names were not mentioned, they were not remembered, they were not.

24:28 Known, you know. Yeah, And now here they are in a room with some family members presence, and this little boy just saying with all his emotions something about kids because they're not reserved, you. Know what I mean. Like, yeah, it also shows that that he, you know, the author, like has just what his kids have understood from his work and what he's instilled. Yeah, and yes, yes. And I just I lost it when I read that him many times during the book. I'm gonna wait till I go to buy it, but I can't wait. No, I cannot wait for you to read it. And honestly, anyone who reads it, please message me because it's amazing.

25:14 And I don't want to spoil the book by going through everyone's story that he shares, because it's just written so well and it's so but he Yeah, the people he finds, he shares their stories, he weaves them together. There was one person, one of the survivor or one of the victims of the crash. His his name. Is Benito, his nickname is Benito, and. His sister is. Like and again there's a lot of just generational trauma that's involved even with him and with these people too, because you know, they were raised right after the Mexican Revolution, like you know. So these two siblings, their parents, their mom dies during childbirth, I think that's what it was.

26:00 During childbirth dies and the dad, like you know, at this point in time in history, men were not expected to raise like their own children. It was either find a new wife to raise children with you, or you give them away. And so this guy gives these two siblings away, two well known friends, and he just you know, leaves. But that was the expectation, and this they were lucky. These two people that brought them in were good. One was a Lican siato, the other the woman was a mayestra teacher and lawyer. They you know, taught them, raise them well, fedter than well. It was a good, busy, good family. But when she turns sixteen, she says, I've been here long enough. I thank you for everything you've done for me, but I have to go make my own way. And she leaves, but she promises her brother, who she has like they've been always together, She's helped to raise him. Essentially, this is his mom, you know, and she they're like this and she tells him, when I turned eighteen, I am coming back for you like, don't even don't worry, like.

27:00 I will be back for you. He holds onto that. When she turns eighteen the very that morning, she's back on horse with a rifle on her back, her hair braided. She is a revolutionary. And I want to say this is actually taking place during the Cristero War. When the people telling the story to Tim, they think it's the Mexican Revolution, but I think he says it lines up more with the Cristereo War. So she comes back. She's like, I'm here from my brother. She the woman that has been raising them. She doesn't even like question, and she's like, yes, let me go get them. He's been waiting for you, he's been this is his dream. They leave together on horseback. They go join the war effort. Together, she meets a man who's a diver. He becomes like an instant brother to her brother. The three of them are just like family now, or they are a family, not like family.

27:55 They are a family now. They you know, make their way across Mexico, making a living. Eventually they end up somewhere I don't remember where. And he the guy, has already been to the US as a basseo twice and their brother goes with him because it's good money and he's always come. Back the guy. They both are like, well, we'll come back, we will come back. So they go together, but then at some point they get separated. No one knows how. It's not clarified. The last letter that Benito sent to his sister was saying, like, he's on his way back, but he. Doesn't know where Daniel is. It's assumed that there was some sort of raid and Benito was caught, Daniel was not. And because Benito writes this letter from the ins detention center he's at, he says, in a few days, I'm going to be back. I'm born in a plane. But then he's never heard from again.

28:48 They're the woman that raised them together. They call her Mama Sada, I think is what they call her. The mayestra that you know raised them. She sends her a letter because she heard of the plane crash from somewhere else because new spread and there was like a newspaper article, and she sends her a letter like I've heard about your dear brother. I know how much he meant to you, that you two were always there for each other, and so like my heart is breaking for you right now. And I don't know if you receive these news, but I receive these news from so and so, and it seems that he was on the plane. Wow, and just it's like stories like this were these people they all have like families that were waiting for them who never got to say bye. Like I just I was amazed by the book and by how he takes every story and I think even shares in the book that it's like so personal. It was so personal to him for the longest time that it really affected his mental health too.

29:40 Yeah, I'm sure. And he even went to a kuranda and she was like, oh, they're you're being bombarded with spirits. They are calling you and you need to put them in line, tell them to get in line. And he learns throughout the Kuranda to like ask them to not because they want to share. He says it in the book, they want to share their stories and I need to tell them, but I need to do it where it's not affecting me so much. And he even says he takes a family to the grave site because he know he knows where the crashes and where the plaque that says the Mexican nationals is. He takes a family and when he's there, he doesn't even tell the family member where the exact crash happened.

30:23 Yet the family member kneels down at a spa and he's like, oh my god, like I feel and he just like starts crying. And the author he's like, this is where the crash happened, like he hadn't even told them yet. And the book is just full of moments like that. Wow. And again I don't want to I don't want to spoil going through every single person. Everyone just needs to read it. But it took seventy years from the crash for their names to be known. Yeah, seventy whole years and it's all because of one person. Who cared enough. Yeah, and of course the family member who've also had to share, you know, these stories, and he's still looking for the rest of the families. But yeah, that is the history of the deadliest or worst plane crash in California.

31:17 Wow. I mean I can't wait to this event, to go buy the book and hear all about it. Learn more about this, listen to more versions, listen to the full song. Yes, yeah, all right, Well that brings us to the end of the episode. I really do hope this was one less it's unknown for everyone. I was shocked and not shocked at the same time that their names were never shared. But I. Just can't believe that all the work that you know, he has done to get their names out there. Yeah, and again we'll share the post, the Instagram post that we've that has you know, the information about the celebration that's going to happen in September. And yeah, I mean, anyone who you know reads the book or is interested in going. It's, i mean, such an important thing to give back to the families of this crash. Just amazing.

32:14 I wish I could go, but yeah, I would have just visited you. So yeah I cannot, but yeah you should go. You should go, Carmen, All right, well, I'm planning on it, but anyway, I was going to say that first, but then I didn't. I said the other thing first, where I was going to say goodbye to everyone. But anyway, yes, I'm planning on going, and thank you everyone for listening. Oh oh, sorry, I do have an update. Oh sorry, I thought you were done because you said our tangline. I said that, and then I was like, why did I say that's okay, go ahead, leave my bad. We tried to set up a patren I ruined it, yes, and first of all, don't know why you asked me to do this, well, because you had the email information and you need to google for the information.

32:57 I could have asked. I didn't know. I went about this wrong, and now we're screwed. They're saying it was fraud. Because I longed in later trying to put information and I put my and know they didn't plan anyway. We're trying to get our patron back up. It was never up to begin with. It was immediately shut down. Yep. So we're trying to get that back up. No, I keep saying back up. It was not up to We're trying. To get it up after Christina got it deactivated. Yes, So more to come on that, and again, any you know new listeners that have joined us from you know, these recent episodes, you know, thanks, we appreciate it. Only it was bad reviews because I can't read, or because you know whatever, something silly. So we do welcome constructive criticism. Yeah, not criticism though. One more thing. Cynthia Plo, the author of Lotteria and a bunch of other core books. She followed us on Twitter, so well cool, yeah, very cool.

34:03 So yeah that was exciting and yeah all right now okay we're good. Yeah, thank you everyone for listening. We hope this is one. Let's Estonia Unknown for you and bye until next time. Bye,