Dr. Fernando Tellez
Fernando A. Tellez, M.D. as a 2nd Lt. graduated from B-17 pilot training at Hobbs, New Mexico. In March, 1944, he was deployed to Europe to the Eighth Air Force, 466 Bomb Group. On the day his aircraft was shot down over Denmark, as co-pilot he was being transitioned from B-17s to B-24's. As a result of the air attack over Denmark, by ME109's, his plane caught fire, the controls were destroyed and the crew was forced to bail out. Three crewmen perished as a result of this air battle.
At a site hear the village of Rudby, where the plane crashed, the citizens in their gratitude, established a monument to the crew of the downed aircraft. Dr. Tellez visited the site some sixty-four years later.
In his post war years he returned to his educational goals and obtained his Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of California at Irvine. He spend most of his medical career as Chief Medical Consultant to the California Department of Rehabilitation. He has co-edited two college textbooks which are currently being used nationally.
Since his retirement Dr. Tellez has lent his active support to the American Ex-Prisoners of War in San Diego and Nationally. He is presently the Vice-Commander of the San Diego Chapter of the American Ex-POWs and has been appointed by the Secretary of Veterean's Affairs to the National Advisory Committee on POWs.
There are three areas that Dr. Tellez feels most satisfaction and joy in having particpated on behalf of the American Ex-Prisoners of War:
The establishment of arteriosclerotic heart disease and hypertension as a presumptive disorder. This has been most helpful in obtaining compensation for a great number of American Ex-Prisoners of War.
Dr. Tellez designed the California Ex-Prisoners of War license plate and was intrumental in the passage of Senate Bill No. 1462. This bill mandates a no fee registration and auto license plates to all American POWs in California.
The attainment of lifetime passes to the San Diego Padres baseball game sfor all San Diego Chapter members of the American Ex-Prisoners of War.