González, César Luis

Date of birth:: June 10th, 1919 (Adjuntas/Puerto Rico, United States)
Date of death:: November 22nd, 1943 (Castelvetrano-Trapani/Sicily, Italy)
Nationality:: American

Biography

César Luis González Cardona was born June 10th, 1916, in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, the son of Felix González and Augusts Cardona, one of five of their children. He attended the Escuela Secundaria Armstrong and Ponce High School in Ponce.
César González went to work to save money for flight training. He received his training at the Civilian Pilot Training Program of the California Flyers School of Aviation in Inglewood, California. Due to the developments in December 1941 he was sent to the US Army Air Corps in Albuquerque, New Mexico for Advanced Aviator Training.
Following his training, he was posted to 32nd Squadron, 314th Troop Transport Group, 52nd Troop Carrier Wing, 12th Air Force as 2nd Lieutenant. The unit was transferred to Europe to take part in Operation Torch and ended up in Tunesia. From there the unit participated in the invasion of Sicily.
Gonzalez took part in Operation Husky as copilot of a C-53D Skytrain with Captain B. Ott as pilot.
On November 22nd, 1943, the aircraft he flew crashed on the runway of Castelvetrano, killing the whole crew. Gonzalez was promoted posthumously to 1st Lieutenant. March 18th, 1949, his remains were buried with military honors on the Puerto Rico National Cemetery, setion A, Row 0, Grave 175.

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