The community gathered at Tabernacle’s Carranza Memorial in Wharton State Forest on the afternoon of July 11 for its annual tribute to Capt. Emilio Carranza.
Carranza is known in the area as the “Lindbergh of Mexico,” one of his home country’s greatest aviation heroes in the 1920s. Highly skilled, he played a role in building the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico.
Attendees on horses at the Emilio Carranza memorial service on July 11.
Carranza was selected by the Mexican government to take a goodwill flight from his home country to New York in 1928, a response to Charles Lindbergh’s goodwill flight from Washington D.C., to Mexico City in late 1927. That came just months after Lindbergh’s historic, non-stop flight from New York to Paris.
Carranza’s flight was successful, affording him the opportunity to meet with President Calvin Coolidge. But on the way back to Mexico on July 12, 1928, violent storms caused his plane to crash in the Pine Barrens of Tabernacle.
He was only in his early 20s.
Mount Holly Post 11 of the American Legion recovered Carranza’s body, and the crash site is now where the memorial to the aviator stands, on Carranza Road in Wharton State forest. Post 11 has held its annual memorial service for Carranza since 1929, and it keeps close ties to Mexico City.
At this year’s event, community members from Tabernacle, Shamong, Mount Holly and Burlington County came together, as well as people and organizations from across the state, country and Mexico. A memorial service also took place at his burial site in Mexico City on July 12.
Despite heavy rain similar to the weather conditions that caused Carranza’s plane to crash, the memorial again honored the aviator and the friendship between the U.S. and Mexico that’s been maintained for nearly a decade.
“This reminds us that bridges between the nations are built not only through treaties and diplomacy, but through acts of courage, respect and goodwill by individuals like Capt. Carranza,” explained Shamong Mayor Michael Di Croce, one of several guest speakers at the event.
“May we continue to honor his example by strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our communities and our nations.”
Tabernacle committee member Angelo Capoli (left) and Mayor Joseph Barton at the annual Emilio Carranza memorial service in Wharton State Forest on July 11.
