FAEM Uniforms

Mexico was an Allied power in World War II, and aided the U.S. in the Pacific theater, the only foreign military deployment in Mexican history.  The Mexican Expeditionary Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Expedicionaria Mexicana, FAEM) was authorized by the Senate in December 1944 and deployed to the Philippines in spring 1945.  Though organized like an American unit, given American equipment, and placed under the overall command of U.S. Army general Douglas MacArthur, the FAEM had a Mexican commander, Colonel Antonio Cardenas Rodriguez.  It was based out of the now-decommissioned Clark Field on the Philippine island of Luzon

Flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, the FAEM helped liberate the Philippines and Taiwan from the Japanese empire, and the unit finished World War II with an 85% efficiency rate (59 missions total, 50 successful).  Only five Mexican pilots were killed during World War II, and the FAEM was honored after the war by marching on the Zocalo (Plaza de la Constituction) in Mexico City on November 18, 1945.  This display case at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio) shows the FAEM flight suit and dress uniform, as well as a replica of the unit's flag, a variant on the Mexican tricolor.