Capt. Emilio Carranza, Mexico's Lindbergh

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   CAPTAIN EMILIO CARRANZA, DIED-JULY 12TH 1928

At barely 22 years of age, Captain Emilio Carranza Rodr�guez had become an accomplished aviator. He held the record for the third longest non-stop solo flight which he established on May 24-25, 1928 by flying 1,875 miles in 18.5 hrs from San Diego, California to Mexico City. At the time, the records for the first and second longest non-stop flights were held by Col. Charles Lindbergh for his earlier flights from New York to Paris, and from New York to Mexico City. 
On the night of July 12th 1928, Captain Carranza was killed near Mt. Holly New Jersey while returning to Mexico after a successful goodwill flight from Mexico City to Washington DC in June of 1928. After a short flight, the fuel laden aircraft went down in a severe thunderstorm, prematurely ending the promising career of this great flier.

Every year since 1928 the members of American Legion Post  11 have honored a vow made then to honor and remember Capt. Carranza.  July 12th 1928 members of that post were asked to go to a then remote section of New Jersey to recover his body from the wreck of his plane.  This year marked 78 years since his passing in a crash on his way back to Mexico on a non stop flight from NYC.