So, my grandfather was an army engineer shortly after wwii, and one of his main tasks was working to build some of the first missiles. A lot of this apparently involved trying to reverse engineer some of the old V1 and V2 rockets. Anyways, one story he’s told me is that, one day, a missile test went wrong when the missile went off course, crossed the border, and landed in a Mexican cemetery. He mentioned going over to the cemetery after the blast, and seeing parts of decomposing corpses scattered everywhere.
My Grandpa’s memory isn’t that great these days and he’s known for spinning yarns, but this is one he’s been telling for quite a while. I’m curious if there’s any information about this incident? Did it result in a diplomatic incident between the two countries?
The short version is that actually happened.
During WWII, White Sands Proving Ground was founded on 9 July 1945. While White Sands is mostly remembered for being the site of early nuclear tests, post-war it was also the site for testing and reverse-engineering German long-range guided missiles, including the V2. The V2 rockets had a range of about 200 miles, and the Mexican border is less than 100 miles as the crow flies, so there were at least one or two incidents where a V2 went off-course - one of which included hitting Tepeyac Cemetery outside of Jaurez!
The U.S. apologized for the destruction and paid for the damages, but the incident did affect U.S.-Mexican relations with regard to missile test ranges near the border. I don't have a lot of great book sources on this - mostly newspaper accounts, and I haven't found a version of the original incident report online yet.