Foil: 1 Panel: 4 Column: 3 Line: 31

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Odilyn L. Santa Maria

Born on Nov. 12,1918 in Tondo, Manila, Philippines, Manuel Paterno Gomez Santa Maria belonged to what has been termed "The Greatest Generation." While a pre-law student at the Univ. of the Philippines in 1941, he joined the fledgling Philippine Air Force, in the face of Japanese aggression in the Pacific. During the Japanese invasion, he was captured on Corregidor and interned at a prison camp in Capaz, Tarlac. He was released and spent the 3 years of Japanese occupation in Manila and Cavite. In 1944, he married a high schoolclassmate, Enriqueta Litonjua, and after the Liberation, shipped out to the U.S. for flight training as part of the USAFFE. The war ended while he was in the U.S., and he sailed home to continue his career in the Philippine Air Force. In 1946, he joined Asia's first airline, Philippine Air Lines. During his airline career, he served as Director of Flight Operations and president of the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines. After over 20,000 flight hours and 33 years of service, he retired in 1979 as a DC-10 captain. He and his wife, Enriqueta, had seven children, two of whom also became airline pilots. He died at the age of 75 in October 1994.