All They Will Call You

“Despite the investigation team’s best efforts, in the end, it was a patchwork job. Names were as dismembered as the bodies they belonged to.”

In this quote, Tim Z. Hernandez draws a parallel between his work and that of the investigation team while also highlighting the differences. Like the investigation team, Hernandez’s research is a “patchwork job” incorporating many different sources of varying reliability. Unlike the investigation team, he seeks to connect the names to the people and their stories.

“For Casimira Navarro López, time would knock on her door sixty-seven years later, almost to the day. Until this moment, she had never been asked to speak about her boyfriend, who was killed in ‘the worst airplane disaster in California’s history.’”

In this quote, Hernandez introduces himself as an oral historian collecting stories of “ordinary people,” stories that were otherwise overlooked by official accounts. Despite Casimira Navarro López’s connection to one of the victims, Luis Miranda Cuevas, no one had ever asked her to share her memories of him.

“It was clear that, despite the mass deportations, valley farmers were still relying on Mexico’s recruiting centers to register braceros, pile them into cargo trains, and inject them into California’s fields by the thousands. And as long as recruiting centers were open, there were always infinite lines of men willing to wait as long as it took. And wait they did. With the patience of volcanoes, they waited. Like Luis, most of them came from rural, little-heard-of pueblos, eager to find work in los Estados Unidos.”

Hernandez describes the economic and social conditions that led men like Luis Cuevas and the other migrant workers to come to the US. Hernandez emphasizes the contradictions of American immigration policy: Despite needing workers, there are “mass deportations.”

“After all his efforts cultivating the ejido by hand, not to mention shedding his own blood for Charco, the fact that he needed to leave, to run away, in order to provide for his family, and for the ejido, was a beating to his pride like none he’d ever known.”

In this quote, Hernandez uses historical fiction to describe Guadalupe’s state of mind upon the realization that he was going to have to leave his hometown, Charco, to earn money in the US to build a well. It shows how Immigrant Migration and Labor takes a toll on those who are obligated by economic circumstances to leave their home in the hopes of creating a better life for their loved ones.

“Memory too becomes vital when so far away from home. The ability to recall a loved one’s voice, or even the warm smell of bread, can mean the difference between alienation and a welcome reminder that we are still human. Our survival depends on it. Alone, far from the touch of a familiar hand, we reflect obsessively on why we are here in the first place, in this strange land, and for whom we are here.”

Throughout the book, Hernandez is particularly interested in Forms of Remembrance and Memorial. In this quote, he describes how memory is important to immigrants as a way to remain connected to their home.

“‘Here, in los Estados, one never sleeps,’ Valdivia would write to his mother. ‘You have to keep one eye open, nothing like La Estancia, where you can sleep peacefully with nothing but the sound of goats or the rustling river nearby.’”

Hernandez uses primary documents, such as letters, to humanize and create empathy for the victims. Here, he quotes from a letter that Valdivia wrote to his mother about the challenges Valdivia faced in the US and his longing for home. This excerpt shows that Valdivia wrote poetically and romantically about his home in La Estancia.

“This is how I pictured the two women. Their phones pressed tenderly to their ears, each sitting in her own living room a thousand miles apart. Even in their silences, especially in their silences, I could tell they were harking back to their distant memory, to the image of their big brother Frankie as a young man.”

Hernandez occasionally uses the memoir form when describing his interviews with the family and friends of the victims. This gives greater insight and allows for Creating Empathy Through Storytelling. In this quote, Hernandez describes his views of Frankie Atkinson’s sisters, which allows the reader to picture them as well.

“It used to be that not a day would pass when he didn’t think about flight school. It had been over a month now since he’d even sat on the front porch. With each passing day he felt his dream receding to that dusty shelf, where all working-class dreams get filed away.”

In this quote, Hernandez describes Frankie Atkinson’s despair about fulfilling his dream of becoming a pilot. He uses historical fiction to give insight into Frankie’s feelings. By noting that many “working-class dreams” go unfulfilled, Hernandez connects his struggles with those of the other working-class victims of the flight like Valdivia, who also struggled to fulfill their dreams of a better life.

“She paused a moment, to look at him once more. She shielded her eyes from the sunlight, then turned and hurried away. He watched her blue skirt flittering behind her and her blonde hair rising and falling. He looked in her direction, until she was no longer in sight. Just like that, Frankie thought to himself, the war had already claimed its first casualty.”

This quote, written in the style of historical fiction, shows that, like the other victims, Frankie had to make sacrifices in order to fulfill his dreams. Hernandez describes how Frankie gave up on his high school sweetheart, Dottie, to join the military in the hopes of becoming a pilot.

“Time to fly. The mere sound of it felt strange coming out of Ramón’s mouth. He’d been transported many times by train and bus, but never ‘en un avión.’ He hadn’t made up his mind how to feel about it. A part of him, perhaps the child inside, appreciated the wonderment. But the rough-hewn campesino in him preferred to be as close to the earth as possible.”

In Section 3, Hernandez uses historical fiction to describe the feelings of the passengers before and during the flight. He emphasizes that many of them had never before been on an airplane, viewing it as an unreliable and frightening form of travel.

“It was a telling that would be passed around Charco de Pantoja for generations to come. In the streets, the ejido, the molino, and at gatherings, soon everyone would learn about that fateful roundup of Ramón and Guadalupe in a place called San Juan Bautista, California.”

In this quote, Hernandez describes the stories told in Ramón and Guadalupe’s hometown of Charco de Pantoja as a Form of Remembrance and Memorial. The word “telling” emphasizes that it is an oral history rather than a strictly factual account of events.

“They stared at the ship in awe. It was an impressive piece of machinery. They’d only ever seen one from afar. For the first time in their lives, they found themselves standing in the colossal shadow of a Douglas DC-3 skyplane.”

Using historical fiction, Hernandez offers description that helps with visualizing and emotionally relating to how the passengers must have felt prior to boarding the airplane. This is an example of Hernandez Creating Empathy Through Storytelling.

“The need for Mexican workers was no longer critical now that the war was over.

‘Work now,’ a few enganchados had warned. ‘And work fast. It’s only a matter of time.’

It could be said that what happened next was predetermined by ‘la mano poderosa de Dios’ and rooted in José’s passion for America’s favorite pastime.”

Hernandez describes how the circumstances for migrant agricultural workers changed following the end of World War II and the return of soldiers. They were no longer as necessary for the economy. These larger structural factors impacted the personal lives of men like Valdivia.

“Because her seat was facing the tail of the ship, she glanced down the length of the cabin and saw endless rows of brown faces staring back at her. Their expressions held a seriousness. Bobbie could feel her stomach turn. A nausea crept in.”

Using a historical fiction mode, Hernandez gives insight into the feelings of Bobbie Atkinson as the plane prepares for takeoff. Her nervousness about flying in the Douglas aircraft, particularly after the recent crashes, foreshadows the fire and crash to come.

“Had Bobbie known it would go on to become the most prophetic utterance of her life, she may have thought twice before saying it.

‘If something were to ever happen to Frankie, I’d wanna be with him.’ Those were her exact words. ‘I’d wanna be with him.’

It was one of those rare instances where, in the quiet hours before sunrise, the synchronicity would begin to unfold with a single phone call.”

Chapter 31 is entitled “Perhaps Synchronicity.” Synchronicity is when events occur that appear related but have no direct causal relationship. In this case, Hernandez ascribes the fact that the scheduled stewardesses called out, resulting in Bobbie taking their place, as synchronous with Bobbie’s stated wish to die along with her husband.

“In those first few minutes of flight, they couldn’t tear their eyes away from what they were witnessing. To see los Estados Unidos from this angle, on the shoulders of California, the footstool of el Norte, was like staring at the anatomy of all their wins and losses.”

In this quote, Hernandez creates Empathy Through Storytelling by using historical fiction to give insight into how the migrant passengers may have felt while on the flight. He notes that the view from 9,000 feet “was like staring at an anatomy of all their wins and losses,” referring to the opportunities they had in the US as well as all they had to sacrifice to achieve them.

“There’s a small part of the brain where memory is stored called the hippocampus. In moments of intense trauma, this specific node of brain goes into shock. Any number of memories haphazardly flash, as quick as a camera bulb. The string of blood that poured from Luis’s own torn leg could have very well been the bougainvillea crawling across Casimira’s bedroom window in Jocotepec. Mi Cara de Dolorosa.”

Hernandez compares the flash of memory prior to death to the flash of a camera bulb. In this way, he extends his analysis of the importance of photography as a Form of Memorial and Remembrance.

“The sensation of falling at terminal velocity, where a flailing body can reach speeds of up to 124 miles per hour, may as well have been the sensation of birth. No longer were their souls inside their skin sack. They were between worlds. Dead and alive at the same time. Screams for Diosito, if ever they came, had done so from disembodied mouths.”

In the opening line of the text, Hernandez describes the plane crash as a moment when “a fragile seam between worlds had opened.” Here, he returns to the metaphor to describe the separation between life and death that occurred at the moment when the passengers died. He uses the Spanish term “Diosito,” meaning “Dear God!” to illustrate the language they might have used in their final moments.

“Now the song ‘Deportee’ was one of the most beautiful songs that Woody ever wrote. It’s not always sung right though. Sometimes they make it too fast. I like to sing it like […] Make that last word, ‘deportee,’ stand out, you see?”

Here, Hernandez provides a quote from his interview with the great folk singer Pete Seeger. Seeger popularized the song “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)” written by Woody Guthrie. In this quote, Seeger advises that he tried to emphasize the word “deportee” in the song to make it “stand out.”

“While he sat on the floor, checking the gun’s chamber, one thousand miles away, somewhere in Nashville, Tennessee, folk musician Joan Baez was in a recording studio, laying down Martin’s melody to the song ‘Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee).’ It would be featured in her upcoming album, Blessed Are […] As Martin gripped the gun barrel with both hands, Baez gripped the neck of her guitar. While he was at the end of his life, the song was at the beginning of its life.”

Hernandez notes that at the moment when Marty Hoffmann took his own life, the music he created was being recorded by the great folk singer Joan Baez. Even as his own life came to an end, what he created continued on to influence others.

“There is no way either Dick or Martin can predict the historical significance of this moment. Nor that the impact of this one song would last seven decades, until it found the grandson of migrant farmworkers, moved by a question posed in the lyrics, ‘Who are these friends all scattered like dry leaves?’ enough to go searching for the answer. Perhaps Woody knew, he must’ve—A folk song is what’s wrong and how to fix it.”

In this quote, Hernandez describes how important song is as a Form of Remembrance and Memorial. Through the song “Plane Crash at Los Gatos (Deportees),” “the grandson of migrant farmworkers”—Hernandez himself—learned of the event and felt inspired to try and find as many of the victims’ stories as possible.

“I’m still not any closer to confirming names, much less finding any of the family members. When Rascon gave me the new list back in November I felt optimistic, but now the whole thing just feels fucking impossible.”

Hernandez uses memoir and personal reflection to give insight into the challenges he faced when researching the victims and their families. This quote demonstrates just how frustrating the process was and the self-doubt that he felt during it. It is one of the few times in the text that Hernandez uses coarse language, indicating his emotional state at the time this note was written.

“The last time I’d seen anything similar was in 93, when my mom took my sister and I to Cesar Chavez’s funeral procession in Delano. I was nineteen years old then. But it did something to me. Made me aware of myself and my own family, in a way I’d never considered. That was twenty years ago. Here I am, today, with my own children, wondering what impression all of this will leave on them twenty years from now.”

In this quote, Hernandez connects his feelings about the headstone memorial service for the victims of the crash both to the past (attending Cesar Chavez’s funeral) and to the future (his children and their memories). Cesar Chavez was a labor leader and civil rights activist who advocated for the rights of migrant agricultural workers and helped them form a union.