"As
part of my responsibilities as Commander of Laughlin
AFB in Del Rio, Texas, was the control of military
personnel going into Mexico. All were required to
change their American money into two-dollar bills
to thwart German counterfeit attempts.
I
made a particular point of treating the Mexicans as
Allies inasmuch as they were told they were also at
war with Germany. I met with civic leader of Cuidad
Acuna to discuss the serious problems of sanitation
and price of gouging that were going on in their town.
I was determined to resolve them. I was given seemingly
sincere promises of cooperation in correcting these
glaring deficiencies. But their promises were only
hollow.
I
retaliated by telling the leaders that I was closing
the border between Del Rio and their city because
we could not tolerate the risk of exposing our airmen
to mistreatment or disease. At first, they were unconcerned
but when lack of our airmen's business began to be
felt, they came to me and asked for another chance.
I agreed, but suggested strenuously that they take
some of the money that they would be making from our
GIs and use it to improve their city water supply.
It was highly contaminated by coliform bacteria -
fecal matter. But once again, no results, so I had
to close the border for a second time. Once again,
they pleaded for another chance. In agreeing, I firmly
pledged that if I had to close it one more time, it
would be permanent - I would never reopen it again!
It brought results. They began to cooperate much better
with me in correcting these nagging problems - they
even made distinct improvements to their water system.
Years
later, I had an occasion to land at Laughlin and through
the Base Commander, word reached the Mexican leaders.
I was surprised to learn they had arranged a quick
banquet in my honor. It seemed that the marked improvement
in the quality of their water supply together with
the newly learned lesson of working together to solve
mutual problems instead of ignoring them, had enabled
the town of Cudid Acuna to remain prosperous while
their neighbors were battling a crippling depression.
"My persistence had been rewarded I was pleased"
Mundy [ 1
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