This month Reuters covers a special ceremony that took place in Ottawa honoring Argentineans who served, rather under wraps, for the Allied Forces during World War II:

Many foreigners fought for the various Allied air forces, but until now historians have largely focused on pilots from Czechoslovakia, Poland, France and Norway — all of which were occupied by German forces.

Few realize that more than 800 young men from neutral Argentina, some of them schoolboys, rushed to sign up as pilots and then made the long, dangerous trip to Europe by boat.

One thing the young Argentines had in common with those other foreign servicemen and the possible reason no one’s made a big deal of their service before now—Nazi occupation of their homeland:

After the war many senior Nazis escaped to Argentina, where they were openly welcomed, and the atmosphere made it hard for ex-[British Royal Air Force] pilots to talk openly about fighting for the Allies.

How’s that for a homecoming? Fortunately Argentine historian Claudio Meunier has created a documentary called, “Voluntarios” (Volunteers) based on his book Born with Honour and directed by Cesar Alejandro Turturro. The film focuses on the portion of volunteers who flew for the Royal Air Force and the Canadian Royal Air Force—about 400 young Argentinean Airmen. Which is why the movie was shown for the first time late last month at Canada’s Aviation Museum during a ceremony to honor the 14 Argentines who died while serving in the RCAF. (Their names are pictured at right. Click to enlarge.) No word yet on plans to show the film commercially. An article in The Mapleleaf advises interested parties to contact the Argentinian Embassy in Ottawa.

Argentine pilots break silence over World War Two [Reuters]
Honouring wartime Argentinian airmen [The Maple Leaf]