Son visits site where father died in California plane crash 77 years ago. ‘A lifelong dream'
His father, Guadalupe Ramírez Lara, left behind a wife and two children after working as a bracero in California in the 1940s. He was one of 28 deportees who died in the crash in Los Gatos Canyon near Coalinga on Jan. 28, 1948, when the engine of a chartered Douglas DC-3 aircraft caught fire, plunging the plane to the ground and killing all onboard including the two pilots, a flight attendant and an immigration guard.
The 28 Mexican nationals, some who were part of the bracero farmworker program, were buried in a mass unmarked grave at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Fresno. F,or more than six decades their names were unknown.
The 81-year-old Fermín boarded a plane on Jan. 17 from León, Guanajuato to the Central Valley, ahead of the 77th anniversary of the plane crash that killed the Mexican nationals who were being deported.
The trip from his hometown of Charco de Pantoja in the municipality of Valle de Santiago in the state of Guanajuato in Mexico to Fresno and Coalinga was a lifelong dream for Fermín, who was 4 years old when his father died 14 days before his fifth birthday.
Fermín stayed in California for almost 12 days and took flowers to his father's resting place.
The trip in January meant a lot for Fermín, who turned 82 on Tuesday.
'A lifelong dream of knowing the place where they are buried and the place where the accident happened,' Fermín said in Spanish. He said his sister, who passed away, had the opportunity to come many years before and visit the place. He said his mother Micaela never forgot his father but unfortunately, never had the opportunity to visit his father's resting place.
Fermín said he traveled to Mexico City a few times to apply for a visa to come to California with no luck. Finally, he was granted a visa in early January, leaving him with mixed feelings.
'I felt very happy, but at the same time very sad,' Fermín said.
Fermín said his nephews Jaime and Guillermo Ramírez Paredes, both grandkids of Ramón Paredes González, another victim in the plane crash who was from the same town as his father, took him to the plane crash site on the day of the anniversary of the accident. Many residents of the Los Gatos Canyon community gather to pay tribute every year to those who died.
Fermín said it was emotional to see a gathering of more than 30 people honor the memory of his father and the others in a small ceremony that included a music group that sang a couple of songs including, 'Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee),' a song about the accident by Woody Guthrie.
'I was very excited to see how many people went there and I remember them in my memory. I think that for many years, perhaps for as many as God allows me to live, I will not forget that moment and the kindness with which they greeted me as well,' Fermín said.
While Fermín doesn't speak English, he said being present for the anniversary of his father's tragic death brought back many sad memories. But, at the same time, he was glad to set foot in this country where many Latinos come 'to work and somehow contribute to making this country even greater.'
'I don't know a word of English or anything, but deep in my heart, I thanked all the people who came, the musicians who played several songs with their guitars and, well, I was very moved and it made me remember part of my childhood that unfortunately was bad when I heard the news of my father's death in these places,' he said.
Fortunately, Fermín said, he has not forgotten the few moments at a young age when his father 'would walk me around my house, holding his hand.'
Fermín said he is grateful to author Tim Z. Hernández, a grandson of Mexican farmworkers, who tracked down the names of those who died in the crash and visited Fermín in his hometown. Thanks to his books, 'All They Will Call You' and 'They Call You Back,' the memories of his father and the other 27 Mexican nationals are kept alive.
Because of Hernández, there is a tombstone with the names of all 32 victims at the mass grave in the cemetery in West Fresno. Last fall, a monument across the road from where the DC-3 crashed was unveiled with all the names.
Hernández, a professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, said he has been working on a documentary on the plane crash for the past 15 years.
'We're about halfway done, and I'm just starting a fundraiser for it now,' said Hernández. 'Our goal is to have it finished by summer of 2026.'
'That's the goal, because it's already been 15 years of filming. I've been filming everything from the day I was finding the cemetery to everything the memorial, the headstone, the searching in Mexico,'Hernández said. 'A lot of it is almost done. Now we just got to finish the production part of it.'
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