#VeteranOfTheDay Army Air Forces Veteran Cesar Luis Gonzalez

Cesar Luis Gonzalez, who was born Sep. 25, 1919, in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Prior to the United States’ entry into WWII, Gonzalez went to aviation school to train as a pilot. Upon graduation, he started his military career becoming the first Puerto Rican to pilot for the U.S. Army Air Forces.

With the 12th Air Force, Gonzalez and his troop transport squadron were sent to England in 1942. Once the Allies took Tunisia, they were transferred to North Africa to begin preparing for the invasion of Sicily—also known as Operation Husky—in the summer of 1943. Gonzalez co-piloted a C-53D Skytrain that preformed two separate night missions dropping troops into the southern Sicilian town of Gela.

By autumn, Allied troops had taken the island of Sicily and began preparing for the Italian Campaign. On Nov. 22, 1943, Gonzalez’s plane crashed during takeoff at an airfield in Castelvetrano in North West Sicily, killing Gonzalez and his fellow pilot. He was posthumously promoted to first lieutenant after the war and interred in Puerto Rico National Cemetery. His name can be found on the Monumento del la Recordacion in front of the San Juan Capitol Building, and there are two streets named after him: one in his hometown of Adjuntas, and one in San Juan.

His grave can be found at Section A Site 175 at Puerto Rico National Cemetery. Honor his service at his Veterans Legacy Memorial page.

This #VeteranOfTheDay is from the Veterans Legacy Program. To learn more about the VLP, our partnerships and how we share the stories of Veterans in our national cemeteries, please visit the VLP webpage.