| Deportee (plane Wreck At Los Gatos) |
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"Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" is a Protest Song with lyrics by Woody Guthrie detailing the Crash Of A Plane near Los Gatos Canyon The wreck occurred in Los Gatos Canyon, not in the town of Los Gatos (which is in Santa Clara County , approximately 150 miles away). in Fresno County, California on January 29 , 1948 and what Guthrie considered the Racist mistreatment of the passengers before and after the accident. The crash resulted in the deaths of four Americans and 28 Illegal Immigrant Farm Workers who were being Deported from California back to Mexico . HISTORY Guthrie was reportedly struck by the fact that radio and newspaper coverage of the event did not give the victims' names, but referred to them merely as "deportees." He responded with a poem, assigning symbolic names to the dead: "Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita; adios, mis amigos, Jesús y María ..." In contrast, the flight crew and the security guard were named in the '' New York Times '' report. They were pilot, Frank Atkinson, his wife and stewardess, Bobbi Atkinson, co-pilot, Marion Ewing and the guard Frank E. Chapin. '' New York Times '' January 29 1948 , (as cited by picacho.org) The Mexican victims of the accident were placed in a mass grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Fresno, California . There were 27 men and one woman, only 12 were ever identified. The grave is 84 feet by 7 feet, two rows of caskets and not all bodies were buried the first day, but the caskets at the site did have an overnight guard.'' Fresno Bee '', 1 February 1948 MUSIC Guthrie's poem was set to music a decade later by a schoolteacher named Martin Hoffman. The song was popularized at the time by Pete Seeger , although most contemporary versions follow the sparse southwestern version by The Byrds on their 1969 LP, '' Ballad Of Easy Rider ''. SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY '' album has been described as "perfect for the poignant lyrics."'' The Ballad of Easy Rider '' page from "Byrd Watcher: A Field Guide to the Byrds of Los Angeles"]] The song has been covered by a multitude of artists:
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