In 1948, a plane carrying 32 people on board crashed over western Fresno County, California, in an area known as Los Gatos Canyon. Witnesses reported seeing and hearing people being flung from the plane. Remains of those still on the plane were unrecognizable.
Four crew members and 28 Mexican nationals — likely working as braceros — were onboard the aircraft as it was being flown to a deportation center.
News headlines categorized the nationals solely as “deportees.” They were later buried in a mass grave with no identification.
Writer and poet Tim Z. Hernandez has spent almost two decades searching for the passengers’ identities and working to resurrect their names to bring their families closure.
“We read about a story of someone missing and we don’t think we could be the ones searching for them. We just kind of go, ‘Oh, that’s sad.’” he said. “But for some reason, I had the tools and the experience to say, ‘Why not me?’”
Hernandez wrote about his search in the 2017 book “All They Will Call You,” and the 2024 followup, “They Call You Back: A Lost History, A Search, A Memoir.”
Hernandez said he began documenting the experience first with an audio recorder and later with a handheld camera.
“Everywhere I would go, I started to carry these things with me,” he said. “It was like a one-man show, and I just began to record every step of the way, from my thoughts to going into (Los Gatos) to meeting families.”
Hernandez is in post-production for a documentary about his search, also titled “All They Will Call You.” It’s expected to be released this fall.
Listen below to “Deportee” — a song by legendary folksinger Woody Guthrie immortalizing the passengers’ anonymity.
Click here to listen to a version by Joan Baez and Margo Price.
