Cannon members march to honor Bataan POWs

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Elliott Sprehe
  • 27th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) --  "Sand, hills and pain," an elderly marcher said, describing the 26.2 mile Bataan Memorial Death March, held March 30 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

The annual march, in its 19th year, honored the men and women forced to march 60 miles by Japanese soldiers, and in thousands of instances died, in the Bataan Death March during World War II.

More than 4,400 Airmen, Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and civilians participated in the march and experienced, in small part, what many thousands of American and Filipino soldiers went through after surrendering to Japanese forces in April 1942.

"You can read about it, listen to things about it, and watch movies about it," said 2nd Lt. John Fuson, assigned to the 27th Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron. "But to come out here and participate in it gives you a little bit of a taste of what they went through to really truly honor them."

Lieutenant Fuson and his five-man 27th SOCES team did the full memorial march in uniform with 35-pound rucksacks, which were the requirements of the military team "heavy" category.

The marathon snakes through terrain that changed from asphalt to deep sand and rugged hills with an alternate 15.2-mile march available to participants.

The missile range where the memorial march took place is located almost 300 miles away from Cannon Air Force Base near the White Sands National Monument.

The march route is a dry, sandy and hilly 26.2 miles with vertical elevation changes of 1,000 feet. Numerous Cannon AFB Airmen stepped up to the challenge for both personal reward and reflection.

Staff Sgt. Angelito Cooper of the 27th Special Operations Logistics Readiness Squadron and Staff Sgt. Rhallete Javier from the 27th SOCES, did the march to remind them of a part of their history.  Both sergeants are Filipino-Americans and marched in the military individual "light" category, for which they had to be in full uniform for the duration of the march.

"I'm trying to take part in history," Sergeant Javier said. "I heard stories about (the Bataan Death March) from my parents and grandparents. I want to have stories for my kids, to tell them I did (the memorial march)."

Sergeant Javier was born in the Philippines and his mother was raised in Bataan, while Sergeant Cooper's grandfather was part of a Filipino-resistance group fighting against the Japanese occupation during World War II.

"I'm here to pay respect for the men and women who died on the Bataan Death March," Sergeant Cooper said. "And also to honor my fellow countrymen."

The march was only a portion of the events held, as Bataan survivors were on hand to meet people and recount their personal stories.

Carlos Montoya, a Bataan March survivor and native of Albuquerque, spoke about his ordeals, from being stationed in the Philippines in 1941 to becoming a prisoner of war in Japan until 1945.

"As we were marching, I came across a dead Japanese soldier. Underneath his body there was a manila envelope with pictures of his family and correspondence from classes he had been taking at a Chicago university," Mr. Montoya said.

Mr. Montoya held onto the envelope and pictures even as people within his unit wanted some of the pictures. He didn't give them up because he wanted to eventually send the full contents of the envelope back to the dead Japanese soldier's family.

When the Japanese soldiers invaded the island he was on, Mr. Montoya knew he had to get rid of the envelope.

"I buried the envelope and when we got to the next camp, they searched everyone for Japanese articles, pictures and such," he said. "Anybody that had anything on them was taken away and killed."

Mr. Montoya's story is just one of many reminders of the sacrifices U.S. Soldiers and others have made to protect America's freedoms.

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