SENATE MEMORIAL 73

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Pete Campos

A MEMORIAL

ASKING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO URGE PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA TO AWARD THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL MIGUEL ENCINIAS FOR HIS MERITORIOUS SERVICE TO THE UNITED STATES.

     WHEREAS, Miguel Encinias was born and raised in Las Vegas, New Mexico, the youngest of sixteen children; and

     WHEREAS, he joined the New Mexico national guard in 1939, between his junior and senior year in high school, when he was only sixteen years old; and

     WHEREAS, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when President Roosevelt issued an urgent call for pilots, Miguel applied to the cadet academy for flight training and graduated as an air force pilot and officer in 1943; and

     WHEREAS, he flew sixty-nine missions in North Africa, Sicily and Corsica, and he was shot down, wounded and captured by the German army; and

     WHEREAS, he spent fifteen months in a German prison camp on the Baltic coast and was released upon the liberation of Europe by the allies; and

     WHEREAS, following the war, he enrolled in Georgetown university's school of foreign services, and after graduating from Georgetown, he went to France to study, where he was awarded the equivalent of a master's degree in political science; and

     WHEREAS, at the onset of the Korean Conflict, Miguel Encinias requested active duty status with the United States air force, and he flew over one hundred missions during that war; and

     WHEREAS, on his sixty-fifth mission, he was shot down, rescued by helicopter, hospitalized and treated for his wounds; and

     WHEREAS, upon recovery and convalescence, he returned to his squadron and continued to fly missions until the end of the war; and

     WHEREAS, following the Korean Conflict, Miguel was selected to be the director of a project that trained pilots from other countries to be fighter pilots and, subsequently, he became a French teacher at the United States air force academy; and

     WHEREAS, during the Vietnam Conflict, he once again volunteered for active duty and flew more than sixty combat missions while also serving as a French advisor in that country; and

     WHEREAS, toward the end of his military career, Miguel Encinias was honored, receiving two commendations for his accomplishments, one by the chief of staff of the air force and the other by the chief of the military assistance advisory group in Spain; and

     WHEREAS, after retiring from the military as a lieutenant colonel, he enrolled in the university of New Mexico, from which he was awarded a doctor of philosophy degree in Spanish and Latin American literature and education; and

     WHEREAS, he pursued a second career as a university professor, teaching French and Spanish at western New Mexico university, and he was the director of bilingual programs for the Albuquerque public schools; and

     WHEREAS, in 1993, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to be a member of the World War II advisory board, and he served on that board for seven years; and

     WHEREAS, during his illustrious military career, Miguel was recognized and honored with three distinguished flying crosses, two purple hearts and fourteen air medals; and

     WHEREAS, Miguel Encinias is the only Hispanic in the United States, and one of only five pilots, to have flown combat missions in three wars: World War II, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam Conflict; and 

     WHEREAS, the presidential medal of freedom is the nation's highest civilian award, recognizing exceptional meritorious service, both in war and in peacetime; and

     WHEREAS, Miguel Encinias has distinguished himself by a lifetime of service to his country, and he deserves consideration for the nation's highest civilian award;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation be requested to urge President Barack Obama to award the presidential medal of freedom to Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Encinias for his meritorious service to the United States; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.

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