Mexico's THE ASSOCIATION OF THE MILITARY COLLEGE

	Military College Association
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Mexico's
ASSOCIATION OF THE MILITARY COLLEGE

An association was founded in Mexico in the mid-1800s known today as The Association of the Military College. It cherishes the memory of those who defended Mexico City, and particularly the Castle at Chapultepec, during the Mexican War. Through the courtesy of Mr. Rogelio Aguilar, a translation into English of one of its pages is presented below.

In the Castle of Chapultepec, defended heroically by the students of the Military College and where a handful of young cadets offered their lives in defense of their fatherland, their surviving classmates, some wounded in the fight, some prisoners of the enemy, surreptitiously gathered to remember their fellow comrades, fallen the forenoon of that 13th of September of 1847.

Mexico's Military Academy
was based at Chapultepec Castle

This small group of patriots insisted in lighting the flame of patriotism and national conscience in the heart of the Mexican people. The movement grew with time until, after 24 years of tenacious and persistent lobbying, they achieved success when President Benito Juárez recognized them as an Association on September 8, 1871 and issued a proclamation to observe the first public tribute to the heroism of Chapultepec's cadets on September 13th of the said year, availing with his presence that ceremony, which gave birth to Mexico's official history "Niños Heroes" as they were known nationwide.

FOUNDERS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE MILITARY COLLEGE
Left to right: José T. Cuéllar, Antonio Solá, Fernando Poucel, Ignacio Molina, Cástulo García, Esteban Zamora, Vicente Herrera, Santiago Hernández, Ignacio Burgoa.

Nine of the men who founded the Association had been cadets of Mexico's Military Academy, and their names were recorded in the founding titles that lay in the Association's Archives. They are remembered monthly at the meetings held by the fellow associates who respectfully ratify, in chorus, their presence while hearing their names.

The Association of the Military College, which bears from the tradition of that glorious institution and is the reason of its existence, celebrates proudly each year the anniversary of its establishment. It is regarded as one of the oldest civic-patriotic associations in the country, because it has survived social movements and the 1910 Revolution.

The primary purpose of the Association is to transmit, defend and support as heirs of this tradition, the historical truth, and to perpetuate the memory of the events that made Chapultepec the preeminent symbol of national defense in Mexico. It has been that noble goal what has preserved and nurtured this Association.

On April 4, 1952, the Association was chartered as a civil organization of undefined continuance with civic-patriotic, cultural, social and recreational objectives.

The Honor Roll of those who defended Chapultepec Castle can be accessed here.

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