Chronicler:    
Interviewer:    
Location:        
Date:  		 Pancho Aldape
Daniel and Mikel Chertudi
Kuna, Idaho
20 August 2001

His wife kept this portrait while Pancho fought in WWII
Pancho was born in Durango, Bizkaia on 6 December 1920.  His father herded sheep in the United States while Pancho grew up in Durango with his mother.  Pancho was close to his extended family, especially his grandparents in Garay, but did not know his father until he came to the United States at the age of 14.

During World War II, Pancho enlisted in the US Army Corps of Engineers and was shipped to North Africa, Italy, southern France and Germany.  He and his division were in charge of building bridges.

Pancho is a founding member of the Basque Center in Boise, Idaho.  He helped with the establishment and construction of the Center and its bar.
Pancho Aldape (1939) Read the interview summary
Meeting his father in the United States at age 14 (1:22)

Founding of the Basque Center in Boise (1:33)

                                                   

 First summer in Boise (1935)

Melba sheep camp (1936)

Honeymoon in California (1946)

With wife in Kuna (1939)

With wife in Kuna (2001)

 

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