With each passing month, The Bataan Death March is fading into a more remote past.
However, many people who attended a ceremony on Tuesday in Santa Fe, where thousands of American and Filipino captives were subjected to brutality, deprivation, and the constant threat of death, want to make sure that the memories of the horrific forced march, which thousands of them endured, as well as the last ones, do n’t fade with the last survivors.
Defense and local officials told the 150 persons gathered at the , Bataan Memorial Building,” This yearly event has been held since 1946 and may continue to take place annually into the future,” they explained.
” I swore to you when I first got to be the commandant common, and I tell you every month, this will proceed”, Brig. Gen.  , Miguel Aguilar , said.
The , National Guard, hosting the occasion, presented the trappings you’d hope at this service: a observed playing of” Taps”, a seven- gun salute, and an honor guard raising a pale flag denoting the commander who surrendered 75, 000 troops— including 10, 000 Americans — to the Chinese, though the men wanted to fight to the death.
Had the commander known the horrors that would follow, he might never had surrendered. The prisoners were marched 66 miles through the sweltering jungle as a result, with Japanese soldiers beating or killing those who could n’t keep up. They were already hungry and worn out.
The destination turned out to be even more deadly. In the prison camps, hundreds of Americans and thousands of Filipinos who survived the march perished.
The battle in the early days of World War II was personal to the state: Of the 1, 800 New Mexicans deployed to , the Philippines , in the 200th and , 515th Coast Artillery , regiments, only half made it back.
One New Mexican who spent time in Bataan is still alive.  , Valdemar DeHerrera , had the fortitude to survive not only the brutal march and captivity but an immense passage of time.
He’s 104 and still walking and clear- thinking, according to his daughter, who attended the ceremony.
” He’s a healthy, happy man”, said , Nancy DeHerrera Crochet, 60, the youngest of seven daughters. ” His mind is all there. He’s a little too smart for us at times.
She said her father suffers from survivor’s guilt.
He had been fighting on Corregidor for days without food or water, so his buddy carried him on his back for several miles, she said. A Japanese soldier shot and killed his friend when he collapsed from exhaustion.
” My dad said that was very hard” , , DeHerrera Crochet , said. ” My dad to this day still feels guilty”.
During the ceremony three family members of now- deceased , New Mexico , veterans who deployed to , the Philippines , each lit a candle and placed it in a glass holder to signify the light of the veterans ‘ spirits still shining.
Danielle Gonzales , of , Albuquerque , ignited a candle for her grandfather,  , Agapito Silva , who died in 2007.
After the ceremony, she talked about his story.
Silva escaped after the surrender, but was later captured. Gonzales said he was n’t put into the death march but instead was imprisoned for 3 1/2 years in a labor camp in , Japan, which was a horrible as Bataan.
Silva described how he was beaten, how he was forced to work in a mine without food and with malaria and dysentery outbreaks, according to Gonzales. He was still forced to work when the mine collapsed and broke his back.
But he also talked about how his , New Mexico , comrades were with him, she said. They could speak Spanish and mock the guards, who could n’t understand them, and find ways to persevere and survive, she said.
They shared a strong sense of community and community, she said, and this can be seen in other occasions.
Gonzales’ words during the candle-lit ceremony echoed those of many present who were grieving for loved ones who endured a terrible ordeal but are now gone.
” I place this light as a last token of affection, which leaves an empty space in the hearts of those they left behind”, she said.
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( c ) 2024 The Santa Fe New Mexican
Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
