Bataan March commemorated on Saturday

Ceremonies commemorating the Bataan Death March, which occurred 71 years ago this month, are slated for 1 p.m. Saturday at Bataan Memorial Park, located on the north side of Lomas NE, one block west of Carlisle.

On April 9, 1942, the weakened survivors from the combined American and Filipino forces defending the islands were unconditionally surrendered to the Japanese by Maj. Gen. Edward King.

Upon their surrender, Japanese captors marched about 78,000 prisoners of war — 12,000 Americans and 66,000 Filipinos — for six days on the Bataan Peninsula on the Philippine island of Luzon to a prisoner-of-war camp known as Camp O’Donnell. Many were denied food, water or medical care, and some were stabbed or bayoneted along the 65-mile route.

Among the American defenders of Bataan were some 1,800 soldiers from New Mexico, many with the National Guard’s 200th and 515th Coast Artillery Regiments. About half of them did not survive the war.

The Bataan Memorial’s 12 granite columns at the park bear the names and the story of the men who served with the two regiments.

According to the Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Foundation of New Mexico, 41 Death March survivors who served with the 200th or 515th are still living — 20 of them in New Mexico. Five other survivors from other units also live in the state.
— This article appeared on page C3 of the Albuquerque Journal