Colonel Sage is Prisoner of Japs

JAN. 20, 1943 — Col. C. G. Sage, Deming editor-soldier, is prisoner of the Japanese.

First official word of the fate of the commander of the New Mexico 200th Anti-Aircraft regiment, came yesterday to his wife from the war department.

The notification said he was held at Taiwan in the Philippines where the colonel commanded the 200th during the battle against the Japanese.

According to reports, the regiment conducted a delaying action against the enemy which enabled General MacArthur’s men to make a retreat to Bataan where they held off the Japanese for months.

For his action in that battle, Colonel Sage was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The medal was presented to Mrs. Sage in ceremonies recently at Santa Fe.

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Colonel Sage was placed in command of the newly organized Groupment A (AA) in March 1942. In April, Groupment A became the Philippine Provisional Coast Artillery Brigade (AA), comprised of all elements of the 200th and 515th, with Sage designated as Brigade Commander. Thirty hours later, the Brigade was ordered to destroy its anti-aircraft equipment and organize as an infantry unit and hold a line near Cabcaben. Eighteen hours later, [then] LtGen Edward P. King surrendered Bataan. The New Mexico Brigade was the last organized unit left standing to face the enemy, and the last to lay down their arms.

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The Japanese moved most of the senior officers out of Camp O’Donnell in May 1942 leaving Colonel Sage in command of the “American Camp” at General King’s suggestion. In August 1942, Colonels Sage and Peck were transferred to Taiwan where they remained until October 1944 when they were transported to Chen Chia Tung, Manchuria on the Oryoku Maru (not the fateful voyage of December ‘44). In May 1945, the Colonels were transferred to Mukden where they would be liberated in August 1945.

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In September 2000, Fort Bliss Army Base renamed one of its Chaplain’s offices to “Sage Hall” in memory of Maj. Gen. Sage who died in 1967.

Jesus Santos

The RKO Radio Pictures “Back to Bataan” (1945) features, at the beginning and at the end of the film, men who were rescued from Cabanatuan Prison Camp in January 1944. The 515th's Jose Santos is seen at the end of the movie.

Roy Schmid

AUG. 19, 1945 — The first Roswell youth to lose his life was Roy Schmid, 22, a former student of Roswell High school and son of Mr. and Mrs. Jakob Schmid, who live on the Berrendo. Young Schmid was killed on the Philippine Island of Luzon Dec. 10, 1941.

Roswell Daily Record

According to eyewitness Cone Munsey, E Btry., 200th Coast Artillery, when the first bombs struck Clark Field on 8 December 1941, Roy Schmid and Douglas Sanders were hit and killed instantly. Schmid and Sanders were the first and only deaths from the 200th on that day.

Agapito ‘Gap’ Silva

“Probably one of the most human stories was told to me by a Bataan survivor who was from New Mexico, Agapito “Gap” Silva. Gap’s father was employed in the railroad yards in Gallup, worked the night shift, and every night when no one else was around, would go out in the railroad yards, pray to God and cry about Gap every night. The wind was very strong at night in the desert and the doctors later said that it was the wind drying up his tear ducts that made him blind. When Gap came home, he wondered why his father didn’t run to greet him. When he got to the older man, his father felt his face and Gap says, ‘Oh, that was the hardest thing I ever had to bear in all my experience.’”

— Linda Goetz Holmes

The driving force in the long effort to build the Bataan Memorial at Bataan Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Agapito Silva often said, “One day my children will have children; I want them to be able to come to the Park, point to my name and say, ‘There is Agapito Silva, my grandpa, he was at Bataan.’”

Agapito Silva passed away at his home in Albuquerque on June 17, 2007.

Congresswoman Wilson’s Tribute on the Floor of the US House of Representatives

Vicent Silva

Photo by Dr. Don C. Salisbury

Major Cash T. Skarda of Clovis, New Mexico, upon his arrival at Hickam Field en route to the Unites States after liberation.

[US Army Signal Corps]

Arthur & Bessie Smith

“He and I were on the High Finder (a telescopic range finder). We were the first to see the Japanese bombers over Clark Field.”

— Manuel Armijo, Santa Fe

Arthur Smith died at his home in Santa Fe on July 22, 2001.

Joe Stanley Smith Elementary

Carlsbad, New Mexico

WE CARE, WE SHARE, WE HELP ONE ANOTHER

On November 18, 1951, Joe Stanley Smith Elementary School was dedicated and named for Bataan veteran, Joe Stanley Smith of Carlsbad and Albuquerque.

“Life” magazine carried an article about Smith’s first battle, and “Newsweek” followed with an article about his life.

After repatriation, Smith worked for ex-Prisoners of War.

A War Claims Field Representative on business in Washington, D.C., Joe Smith was killed in a plane crash November 29, 1949 in Dallas, Texas as he was on his way home — his wife had just haven given birth to their third child.

See: One Last Request

SGT. MARK A. SMITH

ESTANCIA, N.M. — JAN. 1, 1943 — Technical Sgt. Mark A. Smith of Estancia, grandson of the late J. A. Constant, editor of the Estancia News-Herald, is a prisoner of the Japanese in the Philippines.

Sgt. Smith’s parents received official notification yesterday from the war department, bringing the total to 95 New Mexico soldiers known to be Japanese prisoners of war.

Timothy H. Smith

“He was among those captured at Cabcaben. He was marshaled into the first groups of the Death March moving directly towards San Fernando instead of Mariveles. He said that this saved his life because they didn’t have to retrace their steps back towards Cabcaben.”

— LCDR Bruce Smith, Nephew

“A hell of a lot of people today don’t even know what Bataan was. I remember it every day ... every day.”

— Harry Steen, El Paso, TX

April 9, 2002

MacARTHUR’S MEN

Yesterday, you were our boys,

At work, at school, at play;

Then, your country called you, and you are

“Mac Arthur’s Men” today.

Oh, valiant band of loyal men,

With your backs to the China Sea,

As you bravely face invading hordes,

To keep a people free.

While here at home, then million hearts,

Are bowed each day in prayer

That God will give you strength and power

To keep Old Glory there.

But when the war clouds drift away,

And you come home again,

A page in History waits for you

Who are “MacArthur’s Men.”

— Ivadell Carr Stober

Mother of Carl A. Stober, Jr.

February 5, 1942