904 (Lake Chapala-Mexico) Wing

Air Force Association of Canada

• Welcome Back Snowbirds BBQ
• A Celebration in Tepatitlán
• Meet the Members
• Program 2009-2010

The dining room adjacent to the Cristeros distillery. Note the large scale model of the P-51 upper left below the parachute canopy.

A few of the celebrants at the day of the military aviator festivities in Tepatitlán. From left to right are: Gral. Posada Mejia, Director of la Escuela Militar de Aviación (EMA) of the Colegio del Aire, Zapopan; Roberto Montoya, immediate Past President of the Guadalajara Squadron of the A.E.M.A and a social member of 904 Wing; name unknown; Mario Okunsky, Past President of 904 Wing (2007-08); Amador Cantu, Guadalajara Squadron of the A.E.M.A; Bill Watt, Past President of 904 Wing (2003-05).

Piloto Aviador Cap. Jesus Rodriguez, FAM, striking a pose known to all pilots... and those who listen to their stories. "There are only two types of aircraft -- fighters and targets."

I was born in Wimbledon England in March 1925, the only child of a Spanish mother and English father, and was always 'Daddy's girl'. My parents educated me in private schools and at the age of twelve I was sent to an Ursuline convent school in Belgium. The school was just outside of Brussels and I traveled there by train and boat - my first time away from home and a journey I made alone. I studied at the convent for two and a half years and though the plan was that I return to England on the 3rd of September 1939, the outbreak of World War II delayed my homecoming. My father was a civil servant who worked for the post office and when I finally returned to England we lived in Kent just outside of Canterbury, quite near to the south coast. The time was both scary and exciting. We were at war and from the fields near my home I could often see air combat of the Battle of Britain which, though frightening, made me want to play a part in the war effort. Following Father's advice, three months before my eighteenth birthday I interviewed for the F.A.N.Y. (First Auxiliary Nursing Yeomanry) which had been established during the Crimean War. I was accepted at a starting salary of 13/6 shillings a week. It was all quite posh but out of my meager income I had to pay room and board, leaving very little for frills. Our two week boot camp was very "Private Benjamin" and was all conducted in the rain.

In 1943 about a dozen of us were selected to be stationed in the Far East, landing in Bombay then traveling by rail to Poona, India. What a huge culture shock it was, to come from a secure middle class British home to the poverty and cultural diversity of that exotic country! After settling in, I was sent to Ceylon for two years, and was posted between Colombo and Kandy. It was here that we were all made commissioned officers (2nd Lieutenants) and were assigned man servants. The women of F.A.N.Y. were very popular and we had lots of parties to lighten our load of hard work. During the time I was stationed in Ceylon I met Lord Mountbatten, but more importantly, it was in Poona that I met my future husband Larry. I flew back to England after the war, was demobbed and later Larry returned by ship. Soon after his arrival home in 1946, we were married. Larry was a writer who worked for the Air Force Magazine and later for Reuters. At this time television was becoming a major force in broadcasting and Larry and I were the major researchers and guest finders for the shows What's my Line and This is your Life. He was good at his work and was invited to write in the United States for the movie Tora Tora Tora. We lived in the U.S. for one year, and then moved back to the U.K. However the lure of Hollywood was too great and we moved to the U.S. full time in 1975. We had a wonderfully interesting life there and 20 years ago, after Larry's death, I moved with a friend to Ajijic and have lived here ever since.