Isidro Juan Paredes

Isidro Paredes was born on 04 April 1907 at Bangued, Abra. His father was of Mexican descent and his mother an American (other sources indicate his father was an Ilocano and mother was of Spanish descent). According to the records of the Royal Air Force Air Transport Auxiliary during World War 2 he grew up in the Philippines as his father was a Resident Commissioner of the colony to the US. He later went back to the US and got a degree in Business Studies from the Detroit Institute of Technology in 1927. He was later employed by the Ford Motor Company and had a brief career as a boxer but later returned to the Philippines in 1931. He was later commissioned as a Lieutenant to the Philippine Constabulary Air Corps.

After his February 1939 flight accident LT PAREDES resigned from the PAAC, decided not to return to the Philippines and volunteered to serve with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He later transferred to the Royal Air Force in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War. Commissioned as a FLIGHT LIEUTENANT of the Royal Air Force Air Transport Auxiliary, PAREDES trained on the Magister, Harvard and Hawk trainer aircraft, later he progressed to the Hurricane fighter and Oxfords, then passed Class 4 training to the Blenheim bomber on 09 October 1941.

FLIGHT LIEUTENANT ISIDRO JUAN PAREDES of the Royal Air Force Air Transport Auxiliary was killed on 07 November 1941, when his aircraft, a Handley Page Hampden bomber overshot a runway, stalled and crashed at the RAF Aerodrome of Burtonwood. He was buried at Great Sankey Churchyard Extension, later his body was repatriated to the Philippines. He is considered the first Filipino casualty of World War 2 and in honor of his service and for being born in the Ilocos region the PAF Radar Installation in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte was named Paredes Air Station.

Biography