Enrique Cervantes was born in Fresno, California in October 1923. He grew up in severe poverty and experienced bigotry early in life because of his Latino ancestry. His mother was Mexican by birth. She required her children to educate themselves in order to achieve better things in their lives. His father was abusive toward his mother and was run off by his mother's brothers. Cervantes had an older brother by that marriage. Cervantes' mother remarried when he was six years old. There were a series of half brothers and sisters by that marriage. The family lived a very impoverished existence during the Depression, depending mainly on the father's work as a ranch hand. They lived in a tent with a dirt floor. Food was cooked on a small makeshift oven. Beds were sacks filled with corn husks. Life was tough, but Cervantes' mother always emphasized the need for her children to be educated. She kept a dictionary and world atlas in their home for the children to learn vocabulary and the world. She would have the children read in English to better their education. In attending early school, Cervantes was the only Hispanic in class. He experienced bigotry and felt the wrath of school bullies. Because his step-father's work was difficult, the family moved to northern California when a job opportunity opened up. Cervantes was in the third grade at the time. Life improved. Cervantes' life became more urbane as his uncle influenced him with new experiences that helped him see life on the other side of poverty. It also helped that during Cervantes' time in high school, he became an accomplished athlete.

Enrique Cervantes was highly influenced by his uncle who taught him about life outside of poverty. Simultaneously, he had an influential principal in his school who urged him to prepare for college. Financially, Cervantes felt he could not afford college, but he began to read more as a result of the impact of those two individuals on his confidence. He saw that education would bring him favor in the world. He also saw that there was a positive world outside the life of poverty that was the basis of his existence. At high school graduation, despite being aware of bigotry, Cervantes was popular because of his athletic prowess. Soon after graduation, the United States entered the war.

Enrique Cervantes felt the urge to join the war effort after the United States' entry into the conflict. His older brother had joined the United States Marine Corps and was in the South Pacific. Cervantes felt he wanted to be a United States Navy pilot so that he could help his brother. After high school graduation and turning 18 years old, Cervantes went to the recruiting station to offer his services as a Navy pilot. He was met with a severe rebuke and bigotry when he attempted to enlist. Cervantes reprimanded the bigoted recruiting officer with harsh language and stormed out of the office. The pain of the experience is still very vivid in Cervantes' memory. [Annotator's Note: Cervantes becomes emotional when the memory returns to him.] After the experience at the recruiting station, Cervantes went home and waited to be drafted. When he received the call, he went into the Army. Basic training was at The Presidio in Monterrey, California. While there, he and a buddy saw a request for Army pilots. After debating whether they should take the test, the two decided to do so. Cervantes passed the test, but his buddy did not. Cervantes was on his way to being a pilot.

After passing the pilot entry test at The Presidio [Annotator's Note: The Presidio Monterey], Enrique Cervantes was sent to a camp near Los Angeles, California for a physical examination. After successfully passing the physical, Cervantes went to Arizona for pilot training. He witnessed the severity of bigotry there because of his Hispanic background. Particularly, with the border of Mexico being immediately adjacent to Arizona, there was obvious prejudice toward Latinos. While in Arizona, Cervantes was trained on a Cessna [Annotator's Note: Cessna AT-17 Bobcat twin engine trainer aircraft] aircraft. During the course of training, Cervantes felt the stigma of prejudice. On a flight with another trainee pilot, there was an incident where the aircraft was destroyed, but the pilots survived. The actual pilot of the aircraft attempted to blame Cervantes for the destruction of the plane even though the seat occupied by Cervantes had no controls to fly the airplane. Cervantes stood his ground and objected to the accusation. As a result, the guilty pilot trainee was ejected from the flight training program. Afterwards, Cervantes was sent to another flight school near Las Vegas, Nevada at Indian Hills. It was there at Indian Hills that Cervantes learned to fly the B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] bomber. Every night, after the heat of the day and the stress of the training, Cervantes and his buddies would go into Las Vegas for recreation. After the Las Vegas training, Cervantes was sent to Lincoln, Nebraska for assignment to a B-17 crew. He became a co-pilot and his crew was assigned to the 349th Squadron of the 100th Bomb Group [Annotator's Note: 349th Bombardment Squadron, 100th Bombardment Group]. Their next assignment was Europe.

Enrique Cervantes flew about 25 missions over Europe. Although he classified those missions as uneventful, they were both combat and humanitarian type missions. The humanitarian missions included low level flights over Holland during the waning days of World War 2. Famine and starvation had greatly affected the Dutch population. Allied transport and bomber aircraft were stripped of armament and loaded with food supplies for airdrops to the Dutch. These were dangerous missions as they were flying low level during the war without self-defense. [Annotator’s Note: To help alleviate the Dutch starvation, Allied aircraft flew Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound which involved food drops during April and May 1945.] Toward the end of the war, all major German targets had been hit and lower importance targets were then being sought. German defenses had weakened to the point where the bombers were flown at lower levels for greater accuracy. Missions of hundreds of bombers and fighters were mounted by the Allies. The Germans had the Me-262 jet fighters which were very dangerous for the slower Allied bombers. In addition, the Me-109 fighter was occasionally being used to ram Allied bombers. Cervantes' aircraft was rammed by a German fighter and nearly destroyed. After great effort, the crew managed to bring their B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] back and crash land it. The peril of that escape from death was a highlight of Cervantes' combat career.

Enrique Cervantes flew two additional missions in Europe after the German fighter crashed into his B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. After those missions, he returned home to Los Angeles and was faced with the decision to resign his commission or to stay in the Army Air Forces. He decided to remain in the service. While observing the camp PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange], he discovered graft and corruption by the female service station manager. Cervantes was assigned to replace her as the manager of the PX. That was at Minter Field near Bakersfield, California. When that base was closed, Cervantes was transferred to Lowry near Denver, Colorado. He helped with organizing the PX office at that base. At first, he was assigned menial work that did not satisfy him. He objected to his superior officer about the assignment. Having qualified on the B-17 and checked out for the B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] bomber and the C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft] transport aircraft, Cervantes offered to work on the flight line or as an instructor. His superior officer requested that Cervantes be patient as this was during the transition of the Army Air Forces to the Air Force. After this incident, Cervantes did hang on to his position and ultimately had the satisfaction of seeing his commanding officer sent to prison due to business dealings involving collusion and deception in the PX. When his commanding officer went to prison, Cervantes became PX manager. He was a second lieutenant.

Enrique Cervantes was the PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange] officer for Lowry Airbase in Denver, Colorado. There were over 20,000 personnel on the base. Despite the position of authority, Cervantes experienced bigotry because of his heritage. He did maintain a reputation for honesty and good personnel management. During his tenure at Lowry, he had the opportunity to visit Leavenworth prison [Annotator’s Note: Leavenworth prison is a medium security penitentiary in Kansas]. On that occasion, he spotted his former commanding officer in the prison. [Annotator's Note: Cervantes enjoys the memory of his bigoted and corrupt former officer being behind bars.] During the same trip, Cervantes encountered a friend who was accompanying a high ranking officer. He was invited to have dinner with them. That was a memorable experience. There was nearly a fight in the restaurant. That was followed by a scuffle with a cab driver. Both the incidents were the result of some ungentlemanly actions by the high ranking officer. Cervantes decided to leave their company so he could maintain the positive reputation he had established as the Denver PX officer.

While Enrique Cervantes was serving as the Post Exchange officer in Denver, Colorado he had the opportunity to meet General Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie. This was during Eisenhower's tenure as President of Columbia University. Eisenhower joined in a friendly card game that was being played by Cervantes and others on the base. In doing so, the General said he would teach Cervantes some of the tricks of the trade. This was not a successful educational experience for either the General or Cervantes. [Annotator's Note: Cervantes enjoys telling the humorous story.] During that time, Cervantes came in contact with the General's wife, Mamie. She particularly liked to shop for tea sets with her friends. When she would find a set she liked, she would often request that Cervantes facilitate the purchase of the set. On several occasions, Cervantes did so. He fondly remembers the occasions of seeing the Eisenhowers but did not come in contact with them during the presidential terms.

After five years in Denver, Enrique Cervantes was assigned to a new mission in Wichita, Kansas. A new airbase named McConnell was being established and a Post Exchange had to be set up. The position of PX officer for McConnell was to be given to Cervantes. He was told by his commanding officer in Denver that this would help him avoid fighting in the Korean conflict. Cervantes recollects several anecdotes related to service as PX officer in Denver before he discusses the Wichita duty as PX officer. The base operations at Wichita had to be set up from scratch. His commanding officer gave him the use of transport aircraft to facilitate movement of items from the Lowry PX operation. Using the transports and acquired materials, Cervantes had a PX set up at Wichita in 30 days. That achievement enhanced his reputation as an honest and effective officer. In return for his efforts in establishing the McConnell PX, Cervantes was given the opportunity to fly the T-33 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star jet trainer aircraft] and the B-47 jets [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-47 Stratojet jet bomber]. Cervantes became a B-47 flight instructor and worked as a mechanical test pilot checking out newly delivered jets that were en route to Korea.

While at McConnell Airbase, Enrique Cervantes had his PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange] operation audited by a vengeful officer. Although only minor variances were discovered, he was accused of misdoings. In the end, because the observed variances were well within acceptable tolerances allowed for the operation, he was not taken to task further up the chain of command. Cervantes maintained his position.

Following his duty at McConnell Airbase in Wichita, Kansas, Enrique Cervantes was assigned to test aircraft in the rugged conditions of Greenland. While there, he made flights to the stations along the Early Warning System. [Annotator's Note: During the Cold War, a series of remote northerly radar stations were established to detect any incoming Russian aircraft or rocket threats that could penetrate United States airspace. This chain of radar sites was referred to as the Early Warning System. It was a part of the defense system established to protect the United States from foreign nuclear attack.] After service in Greenland, Cervantes returned to Salina, Kansas where he continued to work as a B-47 flight instructor and as a maintenance officer on SAC [Annotator's Note: Strategic Air Command] bombers. He was offered a position as wing maintenance commander for SAC headquarters for a new, faster jet aircraft, the B-58 [Annotator's Note: Convair B-58 Hustler delta wing, supersonic bomber] bomber. This new assignment was very satisfying to Cervantes.

Following his assignment as wing maintenance commander at SAC [Annotator's Note: Strategic Air Command] headquarters for the newly introduced B-58 [Annotator's Note: Convair B-58 Hustler delta wing, supersonic bomber] bomber, Enrique Cervantes became involved in aspects of aircraft development and procurement that he had never experienced before. He began to the see the financial machinations of project management funding. There evolved a significant problem with the supersonic B-58 bomber. Fatalities were experienced during the process of aircraft ejection at high speeds. The loss of pilots prompted an examination of the system and the experimentation with a new design for an encapsulated ejection seat which would provide greater protection for the airmen ejecting from the aircraft. The newly developed escape system that Cervantes worked on had to be tested. It was tested with a bear. The test was a failure so corrections were made to the system. Another bear was tested using the new encapsulated ejection system, and it was marginally successful. After several tries with the bears, the tests were considered successful enough to test on a non-commissioned officer. With success using the non-commissioned officer, the test involved an officer. With the safety considered good enough after the officer was successfully tested, the new and improved ejection seats were deployed on the B-58 bomber. [Annotator's Note: Cervantes enjoys the humorous recollection of the progression of testing subjects for the encapsulated ejection seats for the B-58 bomber.]

Enrique Cervantes was offered a promotion to continue his service in the United States Air Force, but by the time he had reached 41 years old, he was ready to retire. Discharge came in May 1965. Always devoted to his career, Cervantes had chosen to never marry. He parlayed a high school degree with no college experience into a successful life that honored his mother's memory. Following discharge, Cervantes went to work for Northrop as a technical manual writer. He left that job to become a civil servant where he was responsible for setting up a cafeteria and officer's club. Following that assignment, he wrote speeches for officers. He became a program coordinator for diversity of opportunities for minorities in seven western commands in the United States, Mexico and Canada. He traveled extensively and spoke often about opening doors for Latinos. After serving under a bad officer, he resigned.

Enrique Cervantes has often spoken at schools since his retirement. He enjoys speaking to groups. He has authored an autobiography. Although he never used the G.I. Bill, he enrolled in computer courses at UCLA [Annotator's Note: University of California at Los Angeles]. He became interested in taking computer courses when he had to establish electronic communications between various government offices. He knew early on that computers were the wave of the future, and that he had to learn how to harness their power. Cervantes never saw the Eisenhowers after his time in Denver as PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange] officer.

Enrique Cervantes recounts how at SAC [Annotator's Note: Strategic Air Command] headquarters he was asked to accompany the commander on a trip to see some bombers. He also saw that the general wanted to have attractive, female companionship during the trip. Two nurses were assigned to meet them for dinner at the officer's club. Cervantes enjoyed the company of the nurse he met during that time. He enjoyed being with the lady so much that he succeeded in having her transferred to Carswell Airbase at Fort Worth, Texas where there was a SAC base. Cervantes established a relationship with the nurse, and they continued to see each other for quite a while. Eventually, when Cervantes declined marriage, the nurse married another individual. Upon the other individual's death, the relationship was rekindled and continued to the point of his interview.