MANUEL AROZARENA y REYES was born in about 1892 in Seville, Autonomous community of Andalusia, Seville Province, Spain. He was the son of Dr. Jose Guillermo Arozarena y Lara and Leocadia De Los Reyes y Barco who were married on 01 Jul 1883 in Granada, Spain. Manuel had one known sibling, Maria De Los Rosario Leocadia Rita Arozarena y Lara, born on 13 Nov 1885 in Spain.

[Please note that in the Spanish naming convention, he has two last names. The first “AROZARENA” is his father’s surname and the second, “REYES” is his mother’s surname. The “y” between the first and second surnames means “and”. Finally, the “De Los” in Manuel’s mother’s and sister’s names means “of the.”]

At an early age Manuel Arozarena along with his parents immigrated to Cuba, and it is believed he received an excellent education in his new country.

Prior to 1916 Manuel Arozarena married Silvia Rousseau in Cuba. Silvia was born on 18 Aug 1886 in Guantanamo, Cuba to Emilio Rousseau, MD and Alicia De Mendive y Justiz. In 1895 Sylvia’s parents sent her and her younger sister, Juana (born 08 Aug 1891) to Boarding School on Division Street, in Key West, Monroe Co., Florida, where they were both living according to the United States Census taken on 16 Jun 1900. Manuel and Silvia had two children: (1) Ela "Elita" Maria Alicia Arozarena (Atkins), born about 1916; and (2) Sergio Manuel "Manny" Arozarena y Rousseau (Atkins), born 02 Oct 1916 in Havana, Ciego de Avila, Cuba and passed away on 09 Jan 1997 in Fort Worth, Tarrant Co., Texas. Years later, in Jan 1928, Silvia would process a formal American divorce from Manuel in Key West, Monroe Co. Florida.

The period between 1915 and 1920 must have been a very exciting time for the young Manuel Arozarena because, though we don’t know the date, he joined the fledging Cuerpo de Aviación del Ejército de Cuba (CAEC) or the Cuban Air Force.

About the early Cuban Air Force, “The History of the Cuban Air Force” says:

“Military aviation started in Cuba with the creation of the Cuerpo de Aviación del Ejército de Cuba (CAEC) on the 5 July 1913 with one Curtiss Model FS. In April 1917 Cuba declared war on Germany during World War One. On the 14 September 1917 a escuadrilla de aviación "Le Escuadrilla Cubaine" was formed for operation in France. During September 1918 Cuban pilots and mechanics started to train in the United States at Kelly Airfield in San Antonio. But World War One ended before the escuadrilla was operational and in April 1919 the Cubans returned home, without going to war.

On the 18 May 1919 the Escuadrón of the CAEC with 9 Curtiss JN-4D “Jennys” was formed. A second squadron was planned for activation but this never materialized. During the next years Cuba bought only small quantities of aircraft and most of these planes were destroyed during a disastrous hurricane in October 1926. During the early 1930s the CAEC received about two dozen aircraft as replacements.”

Manuel was the first Cuban pilot to train in the United States. He received pilot training at both March Field in Riverside, California and at what would become Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. His wife’s brother, Emilio M Rousseau (born 26 May 1885 in Guantánamo), was listed as a Major in the Cuban Army as of 12 Sep 1918. During the 1920’s both Manuel and Emilio would live in Camp Columbia, Havana, Cuba.

"Camp Columbia," near Havana, had originally been a US Army base after the Spanish-American war of 1898. When Cuba gained its independence in 1902, it became a Cuban Army Base, and later a Cuban Air Force Base, to include a grass-covered runway.

In what may have been Manuel’s very first pilot training school at what is now Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, the records of passenger ships between Cuba and the Unites States show the Manuel Arozarena, age 26, arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana from Havana, Cuba on 4 Mar 1918 on the ship “SS Chalmette.” Occupation: “Military;” Nationality: “Cuban.” Speaks “Spanish.” He says he had been in New York in “1911.” His reason for visit is shown as, “Military Mission of the Cuban Army.” Duration of visit is, “2 months.” He is described as in “Good” health and is: “5’ 9” in height; with a description of “Dark complexion; Brown hair; Brown eyes.” With him is his wife, “Mrs. Silvia Arozarena, age 30;” Her reason for visit is, “Traveling with husband.” Duration of visit is “2 months.” She is described as in “Good” health and is: “5’ 2” in height; and is described as “Dark complexion; Brown hair; Brown eyes.” Manuel and Silvia’s residence is listed as “Havana, Cuba.” The manifest indicates they were going to “San Antonio, Texas” and then back to “Havana, Cuba.”

Previously, in 1917, in the US Army Air Corps’ build-up for World War I, the War Department authorized the construction of a flight training school in Riverside, Riverside Co., California. Sergeant Charles E. Garlick, who had landed at the existing Alessandro Field located at Riverside in a Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” bi-plane in November 1917, was selected to lead the advance contingent of four men to the new base at that location. On 26 February 1918, Garlick and his crew and a group of muleskinners from nearby Colton, California, known to be experts in clearing land as well as for their colorful syntax, began the task of excavating the building foundations, and on 1 March 1918, Alessandro Flying Training Field was opened. On 20 March 1918, Alessandro Flying Training Field became March Field, and later March Air Force Base. By late April 1918, enough progress had been made in the construction of the new field to allow the arrival of the first troops. Within a record 60 days, the grain stubble-covered plain of Moreno Valley had been partially transformed to include twelve hangars, six barracks equipped for 150 men each, mess halls, a machine shop, post exchange, hospital, a supply depot, an aero repair building, bachelor officer's quarters and a residence for the commanding officer.

March Field served as a base for primary flight training with an eight-week course. It could accommodate a maximum of 300 students. In 1918, flight training occurred in two phases: primary and advanced. Primary training consisted of pilots learning basic flight skills under dual and solo instruction.

Late in 1918, Manuel Arozarena was sent to March Field in Riverside, California for continued pilot training for a period of 4 months. He had arrived in New Orleans aboard the “SS Miami” having left Havana on 4 Dec 1918, and after a stop at Kelly Air Force Base, he headed for the primitive March Field for advanced training. His fare from Cuba to the United States cost $20.00. Previously, his wife Silvia, with their two young children "Elita" and “Manny” had departed Havana for March Field in Riverside to spend that time with Manuel. He listed his permanent residence as “Camp Columbia, Havana, Cuba”. It may have been on this trip to March Field that he learned to fly the Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny” bi-plane.

Thereafter Manuel traveled to Key West, Florida on 10 Sep 1920, with a final destination of “Hotel in New York” City for one month. The most interesting part of this entry is that he is now, in 1920, a Captain in the Cuban Air Force.

Almost exactly a year later, on 8 Sep 1921, Capt. Manuel Arozarena and his wife Silvia board the ship “SS Governor Cobb” for Key West, Florida with an ultimate destination of “Aviation Field Houston, TX” for a duration of three months. The ship’s manifest recorded that Manuel said he had visited “Los Angeles” earlier in “1921.”

In the summer of 1924, on 2 Jun to be exact, he departed Havana aboard the ship “SS Miami” for Key West, saying that he is “not married” and his destination was to visit a friend named, “Chas Huchinson” living at “30 Broadway St., New York” City and he planned to stay for three months.

A lot happened during those three months. On 3 Jul 1924, Capt. Arozarena married Consuelo "Cuca" Terry y Jimenez in Key West, Monroe Co., Florida. “Cuco” had been born in Cienfuegoes, Cienfuegoes Province, Cuba on 25 Nov 1891 to Jose Terry y Figueroa and Teresa Jimenez. “Cuco” had been previously married to Carlos Augusto Aulet Serrano. Manuel and Cuco would eventually have two sons: Guillermo William "Bill" Manuel Arozarena, who was born on 08 Sep 1926 in Havana (and would pass away on 22 Dec 1993 in Texas); and Jorge “George” Rene Arozarena born in Havana in 1929.

Almost immediately after returning to Cuba, Manuel and his new wife Cuco boarded the “SS Cuba” on 26 Aug 1924 in Havana for Key West again, with a destination of a “Hotel in New York” for a period of “1 week.” Using one imagination, this might have been the newly married couple’s honeymoon. The manifest described Cuco as, “30 years” old, in “Good” health, “5’ 5” tall having “Dark complexion; Black hair; and Brown eyes.”

Capt. Manuel M. Arozarena, was living at 253 19th Street, Havana, Cuba on 28 Jan 1926. That is the only hint that he has left us that he might have had a middle name.

A new Aviation school was created in Cuba in the mid-1920’s that was so highly regarded that pilots from Ecuador, Santo Domingo, Costa Rica and other countries trained there. Based upon what meager records are available, Manuel Arozarena may well have been associated with the school. This school was a foresighted military development that certainly would have been of long term benefit to the country in the development of a civilian aviation industry, especially since Cuba lies at the crossroads of almost all traffic between the United States and South America.

In 1929, Manuel Arozarena was a Colonel in the Cuban Air Force. Cuba has had a long history of revolutions to oust the existing government. Briefly, in 1895, José Julián Martí Pérez and his followers unsuccessfully attempted to overthrown the existing Spanish government. Cuba was declared independent in 1902, and by 1906, the young General Enrique Loynaz del Castillo attempted, without success, to depose the existing Government. Of more relevance is the fact that in the late 1920s and early 1930s a number of Cuban action groups, including some Mambí, staged a series of uprisings that either failed or did not affect the capital.

In the summer of 1929 the Arozarena family was living at “22nd St, No. 24 Vedado Street, Havana, Cuba.” But something was amiss, and in early Jul 1929, Col. Manuel Arozarena put his wife, Consuelo "Cuca" Terry y Jimenez and sons William, age 2½, and Jorge “George” Arozarena, age 4 months, on the ship the “SS Ebro” as it lay docked in Havana. It departed that day for New York City, arriving on 2 Jul 1929. Consuelo’s and the boys’ destination is shown as her brother-in-law “William Sanders, 11 Midwood St., Brooklyn, New York” City. On the manifest William is described as in “Good” health and is: “3’ 2”” in height, with a ”Fair complexion; Black hair; Brown eyes.” Jorge is described as in “Good” health and as having a “Fair complexion; Black hair; Brown eyes.” Total numbers of passengers on the trip was 112, with 28 being US Citizens and 84 being Aliens.

Manuel Arozarena was obviously a bold and courageous man. He learned to be a pilot, about a mere 12 years after the first practical airplane was patented, and at a time that most people had never even seen one. Even in 1929 when one would fly over an area, everyone nearby would stop what they were doing just to watch this miracle of technology!

Col. Manuel Arozarena y Reyes, age 37, of the Cuban Air Force was executed sometime around Sep 1929, probably in Havana, Cuba. Whether he was or was not involved in some plan to change the government is totally unknown. However, as was amply shown in Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union, one didn’t have to be guilty to be executed by the state.

CHILDREN of Col. MANUEL AROZARENA y REYES and SILVIA ROUSSEAU:
1. Ela "Elita" Maria Alicia Arozarena y Rousseau, b. circa 1915-1916.
2. Sergio Manuel "Manny" Arozarena y Rousseau (2 Oct 1916- 09 Jan 1997)
[Note: after Silvia Rousseau divorced Manuel Arozarena, she remarried John Wiley Atkins on 05 Apr 1928 in Key West, Monroe Co., FL. Both of her children, Elita and Manny, adopted the surname of Atkins. Manuel’s first wife, Silvia passed away on 14 Dec 1964 in Homestead, Miami-Dade Co., FL]

CHILDREN of Col. MANUEL AROZARENA y REYES and CONSUELO “CUCA” TERRY y JIMENEZ:
1. Guillermo [William] "Bill" Manuel Arozarena (8 Sep 1926- 22 Dec 1993)
2. Jorge “George” Rene Arozarena
[Note: Manuel’s second wife, “Cuca” passed away on 8 Aug 1970 in Miami, Miami-Dade Co., FL]

In the United States, the descendants of Col. Manuel Arozarena primarily settled in Ohio and Texas.