The 201st Squadron: Mexico’s Greatest Generation

The Mexicans did not fight Nazi Germany or Italian fascism, but Japanese imperialism in Luzon and Formosa

Historians agree that Mexico’s main contribution to World War II was to provide the United States with precious raw materials especially oil—sorely needed in the war front across the ocean. But few know that Mexico, in addition to Brazil, was the only country in Latin America to send troops against the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis.

This is the story of the 201st Squadron, also known as the “Aztec Eagles,” a group of 30 Mexican combat pilots, most of them in their early 20s, who fought in the Philippines under legendary General Douglas MacArthur.

It was the first time in Mexico ́s history, a country with a strong non-intervention policy, that armed forces were sent overseas. But at the end of 1944, when the Mexican contingent crossed the US border for training, the war was almost over. Thus the Aztec Eagles flew through the last, rapidly-closing gap in order to finish on the side of the victors. Its arrival in the Far East was a shot in the arm for the Allies on the brutal Pacific front.