Bataan Death March survivor dies
By Steve Ramirez Sun-News reporter
Las Cruces Sun-News
LAS CRUCES Ñ A memorial Mass for Clifford "Smokey" Martinez, a survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March who has lived in Las Cruces the past 67 years, will be at 2 p.m. Monday in St. Genevieve Catholic Church, 100 S. Espina St.
Martinez, 88, died Thursday at Memorial Medical Center.
"Smokey was our American hero, a true American hero for everyone," Joe Garcia, Martinez's son in-law, said Friday. "He was a very special guy who went through a lot for this country. He really put his life on the line for America."
Garcia said Martinez was a survivor in every sense of the word. Much of his early life was spent overcoming adversity, and he wrote a book titled "Hard Knocks" where he described some of his tough experiences.
Born on Jan. 20, 1919 in Perrin, Texas to Clifford and Phyllis Lanning, Martinez jumped on a train when he was 11 and ran away from home. He lived as a cowboy, alone during the Depression.
In 1933, Martinez was adopted by Pedro and Antonia Martinez of Carlsbad. He moved to Las Cruces in 1940 and enlisted in the Army on Sept. 7, 1940 and was assigned to the 7th Cavalry at Fort Bliss.
"We was issued everything except the horse," Martinez said in a 2000 interview with former Sun-News reporter Christopher Schurtz Ñ whose grandfather died aboard a Japanese "Hell Ship" shortly after the Bataan Death March. "We got up one morning and checked the bulletin board and it had volunteers for overseas duty. It had Alaska, which we thought was gonna be too damn cold, they had Panama, that was too close to home, Hawaii we didn't like the sound of it, Puerto Rico, didn't like it, and the Philippines.
"So we figured that was pretty far away. At this time the war was getting pretty strong in Europe. We said, 'Well hell, we'll go to the Philippines, nothing going (on there)."
But bad went to worse for Martinez when he, along with 1,800 New Mexico National Guard members who had been called to war, were surrendered on April 9, 1942 to the Japanese army in the Philippines. He initially escaped into the jungle, but was recaptured by the Japanese a few days later.
Martinez spent what he called his "hitch in hell" in prisoner of war camps. For 41 months, until Sept. 8, 1945, Martinez was imprisoned and described the hardships he and other U.S. and Philippine military personnel had to endure.
Martinez recalled when three friends were punished for trying to run away from a prison camp.
"They (Japanese soldiers) picked them up about five miles down the road and they beat the hell out of them and they asked them what they were doing," Martinez said in his interview with Schurtz. "`So they brought them back, tied them to posts in a standing squat position beat the hell out of them, every time they turned around. They held them there for four or five days.
"Then they got the whole camp`dragged them down made them dig their own grave, which wasn't very deep Ñ you weren't able to dig very deep Ñ made them stand up and they shot them. `That was the first killing that I'd seen, in prison camp."
In his book, Martinez said his experiences as a runaway helped him survive his time as a prisoner of war.
"He told us stories about it all the time," Garcia said. "We would listen for hours as he told us about the horrors he and the other Americans went through. He talked about his early life, too, and because of those stories we kind of understood why he made it through."
Martinez said his experiences as a prisoner of war shaped the rest of his life and defined his deep love for God and the U.S.
Smokey was also a member of the Las Cruces Chapter of Ex-POW's, VFW Post 10124, American Legion Post 10, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 10 and American Defenders of Bataan Corregidor.
Martinez is survived by his wife of 35 years, Corine Barela Martinez, of Las Cruces.
Survivors also include five daughters: Juanita Morad of Nevada, Catalina Gonzales California, Sylvia Garcia of Albuquerque, Gloria Goyne and Debra Hall both of Amarillo, Texas; a son, Phillip Chavez, of Las Cruces; and sisters Phyllis Schwebke and Mary Van Deventer, of Ohio, Georgetta Glass, of Iowa, Joyce McDade, of Illinois, and Sandra Mendez, of California.
Martinez is also survived by 21 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.
At Martinez' request, cremation has taken place.
Following the memorial Mass, inurnment of his remains will be at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens Cemetery, 5140 W. Picacho Ave. Martinez will receive military honors from the Fort Bliss Honor Guard and the Marine Corps League-El Perro Diablo Detachment.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Martinez' name to the Las Cruces chapter of the American POW Foundation.
Service arrangements are being coordinated by Baca's Funeral Chapels and Baca's Mimbres Crematory, in Las Cruces.