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New Mexico to honor Bataan march veterans

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico National Guard and New Mexico Department of Veterans Services will honor veterans on the 76th anniversary of the surrender of Bataan in the Pacific theater during World War II.

The ceremony will be Monday in Santa Fe. A reception will follow at the New Mexico National Guard Museum.

Outnumbered and poorly supplied, more than 1,800 New Mexico National Guardsmen of the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery Regiments fought for months to hold back the Japanese.

On April 9, 1942, they were forced by the U.S. Command to surrender and went on to endure a 65-mile march to prison camps in what became known as the Bataan Death March.

About 900 New Mexicans survived and returned home.

Officials say only 11 of the Bataan survivors are still living.