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INTRODUCED BY SENATOR MANNY ARAGON
2nd REGULAR SESSION 2002 NEW MEXICO LEGISLATURE
SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 91
A JOINT MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE INCLUSION IN NEW MEXICO HISTORY
COURSES OF THE NEW MEXICO ARTILLERY MEN WHO SUFFERED
AND DIED ON THE INFAMOUS BATAAN DEATH MARCH OF WORLD
WAR II.
WHEREAS, thousands of the twelve thousand Americans
who suffered and died on the Bataan Death March were
New Mexicans serving in the 200th Coast Artillery
and the 515th Anti-aircraft battalion of the New
Mexico National Guard; and
WHEREAS, at the beginning of the twenty-first
century, few New Mexicans recall the heroic efforts
of those soldiers sixty years past, first fighting
and then being forced to march fifty-five torturous
miles through humid Pacific jungles while suffering
from malaria, starvation and dehydration; and
WHEREAS, at the end of the infamous Death March, the
surviving Americans and more than sixty thousand
Filipinos were imprisoned in intolerably inhumane
conditions for more than three years before the end
of the war; and
WHEREAS, this ordeal is honored in the memory of far
too few adult New Mexicans and not at all in the
minds of our school children, who have not been
taught of these events; and
WHEREAS, in addition to the rich past of our Indian,
Hispanic and frontiersmen ancestors, New Mexico
history should include at least one detailed chapter
on the bravery and fortitude of those who suffered
and died defending freedom on the Pacific island of
Bataan, including the infamous Bataan Death March;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF
THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state department of
public education be requested to develop and require
inclusion of a detailed chapter of the artillerymen
of the 200th Coast Artillery and the 515th
Anti-aircraft battalions of the New Mexico National
Guard service in the Philippines in 1941 and 1942,
including the infamous Bataan Death March and the
subsequent years of honorable service while
imprisoned, in all New Mexico public school history
courses; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this material be
produced within the next year and reviewed for
accuracy by living veterans of that service; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that school children
throughout New Mexico henceforth participate in
ceremonies honoring New Mexico veterans, especially
those of the Bataan Death March, so that they may
absorb part of the history that contributes to their
freedom today; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial
be sent to the New Mexico Veterans’ Service
Commission, the office of the State Engineer, the
State Department of Public Education and to each of
the state’s local school boards for distribution to
each public school principal.
Passed and Signed
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