News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Bataan Death March Commemoration

Date: March 31, 2001

"Rugged Tribute to Bataan Veterans
By Rene Romo Journal Southern Bureau

    LAS CRUCES — About 3,000 trekkers will take part Sunday in the 13th annual Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range — a grueling tribute to the World War II soldiers who endured the real 1942 ordeal.

    Among those participating in the marathon-length, 26.2-mile trek over roads and sandy paths will be 10 members of Bataan Death March survivor Weldon Hamilton's family, including two daughters, a son and several grandchildren.

    "Most of us (veterans) feel so honored, it's hard to believe," said Hamilton, the 79-year-old vice commander of the Las Cruces chapter of American Prisoners of War, Bataan Veterans. "They realize we walked it for our very lives. As tough as it is for them, they say, 'He did this to save his life.' ''

    The Memorial Death March, started originally as a fund-raising event for New Mexico State University's ROTC cadets, has mushroomed into a moving tribute and spirited competition that attracts military personnel and civilians from 42 states and even teams from England and Germany.

    Participants compete in a variety of military and nonmilitary categories, as individuals or in five-member teams. Military participants must wear their BDUs, or battle dress uniforms, including boots, and those competing in "heavy divisions" must shoulder 35-pound rucksacks.

    Maj. Mike Schwartz of the Army National Guard in Santa Fe said running the course, as he has for the last five years, gives participants a taste of what the "Battling Bastards of Bataan," as vets called themselves, endured.

    While traveling the rugged course, marchers can take advantage of water stations every two miles stocked with oranges and Gatorade. About 150 medical workers will be on hand to treat dehydration and blisters.

    "Those guys didn't have anything at all," Schwartz said. "The march shows respect."

    About 1,800 New Mexicans, members of the 200th Coast Artillery, National Guard, were among the 78,000 American troops in the Philippines when Japanese forces attacked in December 1941.

    After a four-month-long siege, American and Filipino troops surrendered to Japanese soldiers who forced them to march 60 to 70 miles across the Bataan Peninsula with little or no food and water.

    Soldiers who collapsed on the way were shot or bayoneted to death. Survivors were packed into "hell ships," Japanese transport ships where many more died on the way to labor or POW camps where they were held until the end of World War II.

    As many as 21,000 soldiers died on or after the march, said Maj. Jon Pugh, executive officer of the Army ROTC at NMSU.

    Senior cadets from NMSU's ROTC battallion will present a history of the Bataan Death March at the Post Theater at White Sands Missile Range at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. today.

    A group of Bataan vets will be on hand to answer questions. "This is more than a sporting event," said WSMR spokesman Monte Marlin. "It's a piece of history."

    Before the start of the march, a roll call will honor surviving and deceased veterans as well as missing soldiers. Taps will be played for war victims.

    Then a 75 mm howitzer will be fired to get the mass of uniformed troops and civilians moving.

    Among them will be 23-year-old National Guardsman Ray Chavez of Santa Fe who will carry the American flag placed on the coffin of his grandfather, Cesar M. Chavez, a World War I vet.

    Also marching will be Dan Lucero Sr., of Las Cruces, a 53-year-old Vietnam War veteran, and his son, Dan Jr., of Atlanta. They will pay tribute with their efforts to Lucero Sr.'s late father-in-law, Rodney Sturtz, who survived the death march and spent years in Japanese POW camps.

    Lucero will wear the dog tags of his father-in-law and an arm band with a photo of a young Sturtz in his Army uniform.

    Sturtz's daughter and Lucero's wife, Mary Lucero, said that by reading and attending a presentation on Bataan last year, she has begun to fathom the ordeal her father went through.

    "I think he had incredible strength, and he came out still with a wonderful sense of humor," Mary Lucero said. "I guess I'm on a quest now to really learn more about that experience."

Copyright 2001 Albuquerque Journal"